


Lightweight

by allthelines



Series: old man & insolent brat [1]
Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Age Difference, Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Arranged Marriage, Angst with a Happy Ending, Domestic Fluff, Idiots in Love, M/M, Slow Burn, because all i write are dumb and dumber in love, i've never been married so forgive me for inaccurate portrayals, jaesung rise 2k19, tagging all my fics with that from now on, the trying to light a fire with damp wood kind of slow burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-08
Updated: 2019-10-11
Packaged: 2020-10-13 21:57:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 38,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20589761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/allthelines/pseuds/allthelines
Summary: Jaemin enters the marriage with no expectations. Jisung doesn’t even expect to be the one getting married. Tied together in the situation because of their families, they gradually learn to navigate what it’s like to be married to each other.The words you mumble in the softest voice, the slightest of smiles you show me when there’s only two of us around, the little things you do for me without saying a word—I don’t need to go out there and find somebody I love, because you are the only one I want to love.All my defenses come apart before you; you’re the safe place in which I can fall.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this is for Crystal, who gave me the idea, has been putting up with me dropping bits and pieces of the fic, entertaining my jumbled thought processes over my ideas and even helped look over it because i was going to give up on it. so thank you very much little terror ♡ 
> 
> so hi yes, here i am again with my jaesung agenda and a cliche trope written in the most dramatic manner i can muster. title is a reference to the song by demi lovato, yes. 
> 
> this is my longest fic yet, so pull on your seatbelts, we're in for a ride.
> 
> enjoy!!
> 
> * * *
> 
> playlist [here](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4kfSv7vzMpCr80EeLzZwd4?si=YWU8duzXQSeFaEyHrIixZw) for those interested! c:

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jaemin and Jisung meet for the first time, and strike a deal.

Jisung thinks his day cannot possibly get worse. 

He had woken up late for his class test today and couldn’t squeeze in a bit more studying before it. The moment he got down from the cab it started pouring, and he had to take a longer, sheltered route to class because the goddamn lightning alert was on. He was ten minutes late, and had to spend another five minutes explaining his tardiness, then brave through what was supposed to be a two-hour paper in one hour and forty-five minutes in his damp hoodie. 

The cold seeps in and he feels all two hundred and six bones in his body aching, on the verge of falling apart when his paper is collected with his last question only half answered. He sighs and flicks away the dried and messily clumped together hair sticking to his forehead, because _ damn it, that last question was worth twenty marks_. 

Once given the go-ahead by the examiner, he picks up the bag he had hastily thrown on the floor and trudges out the lecture hall, digging through it to locate his buzzing phone somewhere at the bottom. It’s been ringing since the last quarter of his paper and earned him a few annoyed looks from his fellow exam-takers, but if he were to pick it up, he’d probably be promptly thrown out of the room. So he had let it continue vibrate noisily against a bottle of water he should probably not drink out of because it’s been in there since a week ago.

His phone stops ringing and he still can’t find it; he does find the plastic bottle of water and throws it into a bin as he walks by one. Head half-buried in his bag and not looking where he’s going, it’s no surprise when he crashes into somebody else, causing him to drop his bag. The contents of it spill onto the wet floor. The person gives him a dirty glare and strides off as Jisung apologises profusely and picks his things up. He takes one look at a half-used stack of foolscap getting steeped in grubby, wet footprints and purses his lips grimly. He throws it into the bin behind him without much thought. A kind schoolmate picks up his phone and hands it to him and Jisung thanks her. At least he finally found his phone— though there’s a new crack running across the screen protector. 

He sighs and taps at it to wake it up. It’s not the screen at least, he really needs to count the little blessings for the day. 

The screen lights up and tells him there is one missed call from his grandfather and thirteen from his mom. A shiver runs down his spine, both from the cold and the foreboding feeling at being potentially in trouble, though he doesn’t know what for. He wracks his brain for anything he might have done recently to earn his elders’ ire, but nothing comes to mind. A buzz alerts him to a new message and derails his train of thought; it’s a one word text from his older sister just stating _ sorry_. There’s little time to decide whether or not to return the calls, maybe reply and ask his sister what’s going on, because his phone starts ringing again, _ Mom _ flashing in bold typeface across the screen.

He picks it up. There’s no greeting, not even the usual _ Jisung, my darling son, how are you doing in school? _ It’s just— 

“Oh goodness you finally picked up! Have you heard from your sister?” 

Jisung frowns. “No. I just got out of an exam. What’s wrong?” 

There’s a sigh from the other end of the phone and then muffled conversation he can’t make out. 

“What is it? Did noona do something stupid? Because she texted an apology to me but didn’t explain why,” Jisung asks, adjusting the strap of his bag on his shoulder. He hears his mother’s voice grow tinny and borderline hysterical as she shouts at whoever she’s conversing with. He almost feels like it’s a conversation he shouldn’t be listening into when he catches the last few words, “—how is this fair to our Jisung!” 

Jisung swallows nervously as he sits at the bus stop, waiting both for his bus and for someone to enlighten him as to what is going on. He watches as it begins to drizzle again, the sky scattered with grey clouds, barely any hints of sunlight in sight. 

He hears a door being slammed shut and flinches. His dad’s voice comes over the phone. “Son,” he intonates grimly. 

“Mm, father,” Jisung greets, finding the hem of his hoodie and rubbing the material between his fingers to soothe his nerves. His father sighs heavily. 

“How much did you hear? And what did your sister tell you?” 

“Not much, and noona practically said nothing except sorry. What’s wrong?” 

He hears another long, tired sigh over the phone. 

Jisung stares at his phone after ending the call. The screen tells him it’s eleven forty in the morning before it locks and goes into sleep mode. The day hasn’t even half-passed but he already feels so _tired__,_ ready to get back to his residential hall and sleep the rest of the day away. Unfortunately he can’t, and he stares into the rain for a few minutes more before getting another cab on the ride-hailing app on his phone, with his destination set for Gimpo Airport’s arrival hall. 

He stares out of the cab’s windows on the ride. Lightning flashes across the sky, with a loud rumble of thunder following after. The rain comes down heavier, thumping against the roof of the car noisily. The _ swish-swish _ of the windshield wipers grow more rapid, visibility of the road reduced and the driver slows down for safety. 

Jisung sighs as he notes wistfully how his day reflects the weather with startling accuracy — unbelievably worse than it started out. 

——✩—— 

Jaemin sighs as he steps onto the polished tiles of Gimpo Airport. 

It’s a day he has been dreading from a young age, and it has finally come. 

He’s known for a long while that his own grandfather had planned out his entire life for him, from the schools he attended, social circles he interacted with and even his future significant other. It’s one of the downsides of being a part of a kind of well-off, traditional Korean family and a kid with not much social standing at home because his mom had to leave him in the Na’s care following a nasty divorce that lasted two years when he was just a tween. He doesn’t blame his mom though, they’ve kept in contact over the years, even after she’s left Korea all together to emigrate to the States; he loves her dearly and understands why she left. The Na’s are not a bunch anyone would willingly live with, especially not his father’s second wife. The _ Mistress _ — he likes to call her, not because she’s the mistress of the house, but because she was a literal mistress his father kept around — was a big part of the reason why he was in Seoul to meet his supposed betrothed when he would much rather be in Busan tending to matters related to Na Holdings. There’s so much work to do and so many things to settle. 

Jaemin sighs and pulls up his sleeve to check his watch. Whoever the Parks sent to pick him up is late. 

A finger lightly prods him in the arm, and a low voice speaks softly and cautiously. “Sorry, are you Na Jaemin?” 

Jaemin looks up and takes in the young-looking boy standing in front of him. Light brown hair with tinges of pink under the light falling messily over his eyes, dark hoodie that looks slightly damp. _ Guess it’s raining outside? _ Casual shirt and ripped jeans. One arm clutching the strap of a backpack slung carelessly over one shoulder. Bright red coloured high-top sneakers. Everything he did not expect someone the Parks sent to pick him up would be dressed in. 

“You are…?” Jaemin trails off, staring curiously at him. 

“Jisung, Park Jisung. Um. I’m Chairman Park of Park Industries’ grandson.” Jisung rubs at the side of his neck self-consciously. “Uncle— the family chauffeur, he’s on the way, but the rain is really bad and there’s a traffic congestion from an accident or something. I, uh, was told to meet you first because my school is kind of closer,” Jisung explains. 

Jaemin nods along slowly. “Okay.”

And awkward silence encapsulates them both as they stand around giving each other brief glances every now and then. Jisung fidgets with the sleeve of his hoodie uncomfortably. 

“So,” Jaemin starts in a manner he hopes comes across as casual. The kid honestly looks like he wants to be anywhere but there, much less engage in small talk with him. “You have a sister right?” 

Jisung eyes him cautiously before nodding slightly. “Yeah... About that, I think you might not be able to meet her today.” 

Jaemin’s eyebrows raise in confusion. “Wasn’t today’s meeting scheduled for me to meet my fiance-to-be?” 

Jisung grimaces. “It’s complicated. Grandfather will do the explaining when you get to the Park mansion, estate, whatever.” 

Jaemin snorts and smiles a little bit at that. “You talk about it like you don’t live there.” 

“I don’t,” Jisung admits easily, resting his weight on one foot, staring at the floor. “I live on my university’s campus, have been for almost two years now.” Jaemin blinks at him curiously. Jisung sighs. “Grandfather kind of threw me out when I told him I didn’t want to study business. I only go back once a week. One dinner every seven days is the most he can tolerate seeing a grandson who doesn’t care for his conglomerate.” 

Jaemin lets out a hearty chuckle. “_Really_. Okay, I see why you look like this now, very befitting of your rebellious heir image.” 

Jisung looks down at what he’s wearing — honestly he just threw on the first things he found in the mad rush this morning; he really hopes the socks he’s wearing aren’t more than three days old. “Yeah,” he nods along with a pursed smile. Then he looks at Jaemin, dressed in a tailored suit, accentuating all his good features, which was, honestly, _a lot_. “Yeah…” he mumbles and looks away sheepishly. 

The Parks’ family chauffeur arrives shortly and saves them from further awkward conversation. Once in the car, Jisung plugs in his earphones and pulls out his phone to play games so he doesn’t have to engage in any more small talk. Jaemin opts to stare out of the window, watching raindrops slide down the glass. 

——✩—— 

Lunch at the Parks’ is a somber mix of solemn and awkward. Mrs. Park gives Jisung a kiss on the cheek and a long hug. She also turns to greet Jaemin with a polite smile and nod, but soon excuses herself from the table on the pretext of feeling unwell. One of their helpers scrambles to help her to her room. Another one rushes to clear her space and rearrange the dishes so it doesn’t look like there’s someone missing at the table. Mr. Park lets out a small, quiet sigh and Grandfather Park clears his throat loudly at the head of the table once she is out of sight. Jisung stares at his hands, waiting for the elders to start eating so he can. Jaemin doesn’t know where to look. 

“I trust you had a good flight,” Grandfather Park remarks to Jaemin, picking up his spoon to take a sip at his soup. 

Jisung follows suit, picking up his spoon and helping himself to a mouthful of rice, receiving a pointed glare from his father. He ignores it and semi-stabs at an egg dish in the middle to get a piece for himself. 

“I did, thank you for your concern, Chairman Park,” Jaemin replies politely. He doesn’t touch his utensils. 

Grandfather Park places vegetables on top of his rice and motions for him to start eating. “You can call me grandfather, too, we’re all going to be family soon after all.” Jaemin ducks his head at that, mumbling his _ thank you’_s again and picks up his chopsticks. Conversation comes to a brief standstill and the dining room is filled only with faint sounds of metal cutlery clinking against expensive china.

“It’s been a while since we last met, isn’t it,” Grandfather Park speaks up again. 

Jaemin nods. “It’s been three months since we met at my grandfather’s funeral.” 

Grandfather Park nods calmly. “Who would have known he’d leave so suddenly,” he sighs. “It’s not old age or even his health, but an accident. Life is hard to predict, isn’t that right?” 

Mr. Park wrinkles his nose at the comments, but nods along in agreement. “How about your father, Jaemin?” 

Jaemin chews at his food slowly and swallows before responding. “He’s still in the hospital. His condition is improving, but nobody is sure when he will regain consciousness.” 

“I see.” 

The elders both nod tersely and offer polite looks of sympathy. Jisung visibly slows down his eating as he listens in to the conversation without joining in. 

“I understand you were supposed to meet Jihyun today, and we’re supposed to discuss your engagement and marriage,” Grandfather Park sighs. “And you can see the brazen wench isn’t here with us today.” 

“Father—” 

Grandfather Park raises his hand to cut Mr. Park off. The younger Mr. Park leans back against his chair and sighs. 

“I will cut to the chase, Jaemin,” Grandfather Park states in a steely manner. “Jihyun decided on her own to back out of the agreement, but we will still go through with what your grandfather and I decided on.” 

Jaemin stares at him, confused and taken aback. “With all due respect, Chairman Park, if it’s going to be a forced marriage, I don’t think I can continue with this discussion.” 

The room drops to an eerie silence for a few moments before a short bark of laughter comes from Grandfather Park. Nobody else shares the same sentiments in finding the situation humorous in any remote way. 

“Young chap, you’re a funny one. But you don’t have to worry about that, the Parks run a legitimate family business, not the organised crime kind. We’re not going to kidnap Jihyun from wherever she ran off to and force her to sign marriage papers. There’s just been a slight change of plans— instead of Jihyun, the engagement and eventual marriage will be between you and Jisung instead. Na Holdings and Park Industries will still both benefit from the union,” Grandfather Park announces, tone final with no room for discussion. 

Jaemin turns to look at Jisung in slight alarm, while the younger boy makes a dramatic motion of pulling up both sides of his hoodie sleeves a little bit then blow at his soup, despite it not being hot anymore. He doesn’t even look up to acknowledge what’s happening as he drinks a spoonful in an utterly tranquil manner, as if he hadn’t literally just been sold off like a commodity by his own grandfather. Mr. Park sighs softly once more as he puts down his own cutlery, unable to stomach another morsel. Jaemin frowns and turns back to Grandfather Park, argument ready at the back of his throat but he bites his tongue as soon as their eyes meet. He was brought up to respect his elders and never rebuke them. Also, he knows he is in no position to be bartering with anyone from Park Industries there and then; with the current state of affairs in Na Holdings, he needs them, but he cannot say that aloud. He settles for clenching his fists in his lap, nails digging little crescent marks into his palms. The opportunity to argue is gone in a flash. 

“You pink-haired little punk,” Grandfather Park gestures in Jisung’s direction, distaste clear in his tone at the bright hair colour. “You’d better redye your hair back to a normal colour before the engagement party at the end of the month. You’re not showing up with that atrocious colour on your head, understood?” 

Jisung takes a huge bite of his food so he doesn’t have to speak, choosing to hum in acknowledgement and continue eating. Jaemin looks at his barely touched bowl of rice, whatever little appetite he had completely gone. 

——✩—— 

“Did you agree to this? You’re okay with the idea of this entire thing?” 

They’re both back in the backseat of the Park’s family car, the chauffeur sending Jaemin to his hotel and Jisung back to his residential hall. 

Jisung continues to stare out of the window, head propped on one arm as he leans against his side of the car. The rain has stopped, but the skies still look gloomy. A long while passes and Jaemin almost thinks he’s not going to get an answer out of the younger boy. 

“No,” Jisung mumbles softly, warm breath ghosting over the glass and fogging it up a little bit. He slides a fingertip over it and draws a sad face, then watches it fade to nothing as the condensation dissipates. “But I’ve irked Grandfather enough with wanting to study writing and literature instead of business. Mom has it bad enough that he blames her everyday for letting me go through with it. Noona just ran away from home because she has someone she likes that Grandfather doesn’t approve of because he wanted her to marry you. Father has no say in anything because both his children are kind of disappointments. What am I supposed to do? Run away from home like noona as well? And then what, let my mom cry her eyes out that both her children have abandoned her?” 

Jaemin swallows awkwardly. The younger boy’s words are oddly relatable; there are not a lot of things he wouldn’t do for his mom, too. He chews on his bottom lip as he contemplates the situation. 

“Look, kid,” Jaemin sighs. “I don’t want to get your hopes up, but I have someone, a friend, he’s working on this whole… thing. If we don’t have to get married, we don’t have to. I mean, I’ve known all my life this was bound to happen but you didn’t, it’s not fair to you.” 

Jisung turns to glance at Jaemin hesitantly. Jaemin ponders over his words and tacks on, “I don’t mean I’m turning down this marriage because my prospective partner has been changed to you, don’t take it wrongly. Even if it was still your sister, I would still be telling her the same things. I don’t like the idea of marrying someone for the sake of the family businesses one bit.” 

“What can you do about it?” Jisung asks in a quiet, subdued voice. 

Jaemin picks at the skin on the side of his thumb. “I don’t want to over promise in case things don’t work out. We’ll probably still have to go through with the engagement party since it’s in less than two weeks. But if I can back out of it without Na Holdings suffering too much, I will do it. You don’t have to do anything, it’ll just be on me.” He runs his fingers through his hair in a frustrated manner. “I don’t know, this is the best-case scenario and I can’t promise everything is going to play out this way but... Let’s just not give up on being free of this whole situation yet, okay?” 

There’s no words that suggests a concrete plan, and his tone sounds bleak to be honest; but Jisung is a little desperate for some form of hope and lets himself take comfort in Jaemin’s words. 

He nods, and offers a small smile. 

——✩—— 

The engagement party is nothing short of a grand affair. It takes place in the grand ballroom of one of Seoul’s most luxurious hotels, and the place is brimming with wealthy socialites and celebrities alike. It almost feels more like a networking event with the business talks and name card exchanging going on, however. 

Jisung has dyed his hair black, and begrudgingly ditched his usual sweater and jeans for a bespoke suit for the day. He’s busy spending his time stuffing himself with the really good finger food, contemplating how much more willing he might be standing around here if he could just turn up in a ratty tee and sweatpants while keeping the nice shade of pink-brown hair he had. He’s already making plans to bleach his hair and then dye it to another bright colour (_maybe electric blue this time?_) when he makes eye contact with Jaemin a few metres away. 

Jaemin is in a suit matching his, socialising with polite smiles, striking a conversation with almost anyone and everyone with ease. Jisung wrinkles his nose and looks away, turning his attention back on whether he should get a fruit tart or a mini tuna croissant next. He makes his way down the buffet table slowly and is about to take a glass of bubbly when a hand gently holds his wrist and stops him. 

“Are you even at the legal age to be drinking yet, kid?” 

Jisung narrows his eyes at Jaemin, who smiles softly at his disgruntled reaction. “It’s an honest concern, you look like a high-schooler despite the formal get up you’re in today. The darker hair makes you look younger.” Jaemin shrugs playfully. 

“I’ve been over the legal drinking age for two years now, _thank you very much_. You’re not even that much older than me,” Jisung retorts, popping a cocktail sausage into his mouth. 

Jaemin knits his brows together a little as he does the mental calculation in his head. “Two years… That means I’m eight years older than you.” 

Jisung nods in a patronising manner, muttering softly between his chews, “Ah, enough for a generation gap.” 

Jaemin misses the garbled words and leans closer to hear him better, side of his face coming less than a couple of inches with Jisung’s lips. “Sorry, come again? I didn’t catch that.” 

The younger boy startles, recoiling a little from the close proximity and swallows the food in his mouth without finishing chewing, going into a choking fit. Jaemin hurriedly offers him the glass of bubbly he was reaching for in the first place and pats his back as he downs the drink. Onlookers coo over their interaction and make comments assuming their union to be completely willing and perhaps even amicable. Jisung flushes at the louder one he picks up on. 

Grandfather Park looks on, pleased. 

——✩—— 

Living arrangements are made after that, for Jaemin and Jisung to move in together. There are separate rooms for each of them, thankfully, because Mrs. Park was left in charge and acceded to the newly engaged’s requests easily. 

Jaemin sends only a couple boxes of his belongings over first as he has to wrap up his work in Busan before transferring back to Seoul. Jisung moves in alone and sets his things up bit by bit in his own room. He does it a little reluctantly because he’s grown used to campus life, but cheers himself up with the fact that he can probably make midnight convenience store ramen runs easily without the curfew and danger of being caught by patrolling security guards.

Unfortunately, the next time the fiancés meet after the engagement party, it’s to Jaemin opening the door to their shared apartment in the evening, tired and wanting a warm shower and going straight to sleep after hours of paperwork and a flight, but Jisung is standing in the middle of the kitchen ankle deep in soap suds and water. 

“What’s going on?” 

Jisung jumps at the sound of someone else in the house and turns around. He rubs the back of his neck sheepishly as he eyes the mess around him. He meekly responds, “Uh, I tried to do laundry?” 

“_Tried _ is the keyword, evidently,” Jaemin notes, eyeing the open washing machine and the clothes in a damp pile on top of it. 

“I think I might have put in too much detergent powder?” 

“You think?” Jaemin raises a brow questioningly at the younger. 

Jisung purses his lips and wrings his hands together. His voice comes out quiet and tinny. “I thought we have to fill up the entire drawer for the detergent.” 

“Are you kidding me?” Jaemin closes his eyes and exhales heavily. “That… Makes no sense at all.” 

“I’m sorry,” Jisung apologises kicking at the soap suds in sweeping motions with his feet in an attempt to clean up. “I’ve just never had to do laundry on my own. I— I know, this is so absurd because I’ve supposedly been living on campus by myself. I just,” Jisung rambles on and glances hesitantly at Jaemin. “Mom would send one of the helpers weekly to help me,” he admits softly with a nervous gulp. 

Jaemin heaves a heavy sigh. He throws his belongings into his room before padding to the entrance of the kitchen again, rolling up his sleeves. “Where’s the mop kept? Are there any rags?” 

Jisung nods quickly and steps out of the kitchen to get to the mop, leaving soapy footprints in his wake. Jaemin watches with a grimace and tugs him back. “Jisung.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Just tell me where to find them and stay put in there,” Jaemin sighs exasperatedly. Realisation dawns on Jisung as he looks down at his feet. He retraces his steps and tries not to make any more of a mess. “Sorry! Sorry. Uh, the things are in the storeroom next to the bathroom. ‘M sorry.” 

Jaemin retrieves the items and they get to work cleaning up the soapy water on the floor. It’s almost two a.m. by the time they’re done getting at every nook and cranny and Jaemin has loaded Jisung’s clothes back into the washing machine with the right amount of detergent powder this time. No words are exchanged as they watch the clothes spin, mainly because Jaemin is depleted of energy, barely able to stay on his feet after the extremely long day, while Jisung is too overwhelmed by feelings of embarrassment and guilt to say anything. 

“I’m going to shower and sleep,” Jaemin states monotonously, facial expression blank as he trudges out without sparing another glance behind him. 

Jisung frets as he thumbs at the hem of his shirt, continuing to watch his clothes go round and round inside the washing machine, thoughts about the whole incident just as jumbled, wondering how he can properly apologise and make it up to Jaemin. He doesn’t have an answer even after his clothes are done in the washer and he’s hung them out to dry, except more worries that the cohabitation was off to a bad start. 

——✩—— 

Jaemin wakes up at seven in the morning like clockwork. A quick check of his phone tells him it’s Saturday and he can afford to sleep a little more, especially since the tiring ordeal last night, but one look at the unpacked boxes at the foot of his bed has him slowly sitting up with a sigh. Once he’s done washing up, he makes his way to the kitchen and runs through the things available and orientate himself with where each item was kept. Everything seems to be in place, even the fridge is stocked to the brim with side dishes, and he makes a mental note to thank his supposed mother-in-law even though she probably did it for her son, not him; he was raised to be polite after all. He sets to making breakfast, putting in a cup of rice into the rice cooker and closes it. He stops and contemplates for a while, turning to stare at Jisung’s closed room door down the living room and corridor, chewing his bottom lip. 

He opens the lid of the rice cooker and adds another cup of rice and water into it. 

Jaemin moves about at his own pace around the house, the quietness of the early weekend morning bringing about a serene sense of calmness as he finishes his breakfast and begins to unpack. 

About three and a half hours later, he’s almost done when there’s a soft knock on his door. Jaemin looks up from his last box of belongings. 

“Good morning,” he greets as he checks the time. 

“M-morning,” Jisung returns the greeting softly, pulling the hem of his shirt between his fingers. “About last night, I’m sorry, I’m really sorry.” 

Jaemin sits on his heels and exhales with a huff, wiping at the perspiration beading at his forehead with the back of his hand. “It’s okay, at least we’ve cleaned it up now.” Jisung nods meekly. “There’s still rice in the kitchen if you want to eat it. And side dishes from your mother in the fridge,” Jaemin offers. “You… You know how to heat food up, right?” 

“Ah, yes, I do. Thank you,” Jisung bows slightly and slips away quickly. Jaemin stares at the empty doorway and sighs, returning his attention to his things. 

Jisung is done eating and washing the dishes in the sink when Jaemin approaches him. “Do you have any plans later?” 

Jisung shakes his head and rinses off the last of his plates. 

“Okay, then, shall we sit down and talk about this whole situation?” 

Jisung agrees and turns off the tap. Once he dries his hands, he slips into the chair across from Jaemin at their dining table. 

“So,” Jaemin begins, clasping his hands then laying them flat on the table. Jisung looks down at his own hands in his lap. Jaemin sighs. “I think we both know we’re not here out of our own will. So let’s explain each side of our stories and make things clear?” 

Jisung nods. Jaemin gestures for him to go first. 

“I told you most of it the first time we met. And you know you were supposed to marry my sister, not me.” 

“Yeah, that much, I know.” 

“So…” Jisung trails off, wringing his hands together. “I’m here as her replacement because the other alternative is to run away like she did, which I don’t want to. My mom has it hard enough from Grandfather about not watching over noona, and I want to stay in school.” 

Jaemin nods. 

“I didn’t even think I would get married, so I don’t know how this is supposed to work,” Jisung confesses with a bow of his head. 

“I get it. Honestly, same here. Knowing I’d get married all my life doesn’t mean I know how I’m supposed to make this work,” Jaemin states, hoping it is a tiny bit reassuring. “So, my turn?” 

Jisung looks up briefly into his eyes and nods. 

“Well, we’re in for a terrible summary of the Nas’ history,” Jaemin says with a grimace. “I’ll try to make the long story short to the best of my abilities. Basically, you know, and probably everybody knows, that my father has a second wife who is not my mother.” 

Jisung’s eyes visibly widens at the statement and Jaemin notices. “You didn’t know?” 

“I don’t really pay attention to gossip,” Jisung says with a shrug. “Your biological mother…” 

“She’s fine, she’s alive and well. It was a messy divorce with my father, but she’s now happily living in the States with her boyfriend,” Jaemin explains. “We still keep in contact every now and then.” 

“Oh. That’s… Really nice, I guess?” Jisung rubs at the side of his neck awkwardly. 

“Yeah,” Jaemin sighs. “So there’s that. Anyway, after my grandfather passed away in the accident three months ago, the same one that also left my father in a comatose state as well, the Mistress has been trying to get the assets split. That, includes Na Holdings, the last thing I would let her get her hands to. Unfortunately, my grandfather’s will has stipulated that I have to be married to a grandchild of the Parks as he has decided for me, before I am allowed to touch my part of the inheritance. And because of that, the Mistress currently has a little more shares than I do in the company because she’s in-charge of my younger half-sibling’s share until she’s eighteen. Which is why I’m here.” 

“You have a younger sister,” Jisung points out. Jaemin bops his head nonchalantly. “Yeah but I think the Mistress would have rather her be my younger _ brother_.” 

“That… sucks.” 

Jaemin snorts. “Life sucks, kid. You can’t expect people to be nice to you just because they’re family either. Just look at the two of us; we’re in this situation precisely because of _ family_.” 

Jisung pouts slightly, cheeks puffing up a little bit as he frowns. “You said there’s still a slight possibility you can break off the engagement.”

“Well, yeah.” Jaemin exhales heavily and runs his fingers through his hair. “One of the corporate lawyers in my office is a close friend of mine, he’s been working on helping me gain access to my inheritance without going through with the marriage conditions. I mean, we live in a _fucking_ society, how does this outdated clause of demanding your grandson to be married to a person of your choice even stand? This should be some kind of human rights violation, no? I swear that old man thinks we still live in the Joseon dynasty, which makes no sense, by the way, because he was born at least a century after it ended.” He meets Jisung’s eyes and notices that the younger boy is just staring at him as he rambles on, looking a little at lost as to what to say. 

“So, yeah, there’s that,” he clears his throat and continues in a calmer tone. “I can’t guarantee it’s going to work out, but I hope it will, and put us both out of this… this _ misery_.” 

“And what if it doesn’t work out?” Jisung questions in a small voice, pulling nervously at the hem of his shirt. 

“Then I’m sorry, we’ll have to get married.” Jaemin chews on his bottom lip as he thinks over his next few words. “But it’ll just be a, you know, marriage of convenience. We can get a divorce after I settle everything on my side. I have no elders to answer to for that, so I’ll take the blame and tell your family’s elders it’s my fault, that I like someone else, I don’t know.” Jaemin shrugs.

Jisung nods along. “Is there, though?” he asks cautiously. 

“Is there what?” 

“Someone else you like.” 

Jaemin chuckles dryly. “No. I haven’t got time for that, and honestly? I don’t think anybody’s meant to be anyone’s permanent lifelong partner in life. At least not for people like us, or for me. There’s always an ulterior motive behind all the facades of relationships and marriages when there’s money involved. If not, they just eventually end. So why waste time on it?” 

Jisung scrunches his nose in thought as he mulls over Jaemin’s words. Maybe because he’s younger and hasn’t seen as much of the world yet, maybe he’s more of an emotionally-driven person in comparison to Jaemin who is business-minded and logic-driven, maybe as a budding writer he romanticises the world and sees the good in it a little more, but he still has the small belief that he would meet someone meant for him out there. 

“Do you?” Jaemin throws the question back at him. 

Jisung shakes his head. “I don’t right now, but I still believe in people having genuine relationships.” He purses his lips and shrugs. “Art imitates life, and there must be a reason why so many New York Times number one bestsellers are romance books.” 

“That’s an odd reason to believe in relationships. You’re a strange one, kid,” Jaemin laughs. Jisung flushes in embarrassment and looks away. “Well, if it’s a tiny consolation, you can still go find your perfect relationship and craft your sweet love story with the person of your choice when this is over.” 

——✩—— 

The last thing Jaemin expects is the doors to his office getting flung open, Renjun rushing in and slamming a palm down on his desk. 

“Jaemin, bad news,” Renjun states grimly. He turns around, eyes the open doorway and stalks back to close it. 

Jaemin eyes his friend with a frown. “What’s gotten you into this state?” 

“You have to marry the Parks’ granddaughter— grandson, whatever. A-S-A-P.” 

Jaemin frowns. “Why? Weren’t you working on making the clause in my grandfather’s will invalid?” 

“I was, but I just came back from lunch with one of the other senior lawyers. Your step-mother is apparently making plans to call for a shareholders’ meeting and putting her older brother into the Chairman’s position. She consulted him to know how likely it is that they will get a majority vote.” Renjun slinks into the chair in front of Jaemin’s desk and explains. 

“She has no rights, she doesn’t even step into this office more than twice in a year, how is she allowed to do that?” Jaemin questions, anger evident in his tone. 

Renjun sighs. “She has more than enough rights if you consider the fact she’s the trustee of your younger sister’s shares right now.” 

“_Fucking hell_, even so, what makes her think the board of directors will vote for a total outsider to be Chairman in my father’s absence?” 

“Well _ unfortunately_, quite a few members of the board have been sitting on the fence since your grandfather passed away. We all know the true power has always been with your grandfather even though your father is Chairman. So she’s been meeting with them one by one lately to garner support for your so-called uncle,” Renjun explains tiredly.

Jaemin seethes. “He’s not my uncle. He’s Jaekyung’s uncle and that’s it. I’m not related to any of them.” 

“Not the point here right now,” Renjun waves him off. “If she calls for a meeting, it will likely be at the end of the month. The only person I can say for sure will be on our side is the current acting chairman, and that’s only because he’s your father’s attorney. I’m still trying to find loopholes in the clauses of your grandfather’s will, but honestly, I can’t guarantee anything. Besides, what’s not to say your step-mother won’t have something up her sleeves to prevent us from vetoing the clause?” 

“So what can we do now?” Jaemin groans and buries his face in his hands.

“You have to get married. Register your marriage with the Parks’ grandson and get access to your inheritance. You’ll have a higher vote count together with your father’s lawyer, and you won’t even need to visit the shareholders one by one; you’ll win them over just by being the Park conglomerate’s grandson-in-law.” 

Jaemin closes his eyes and takes in a deep breath. “This was supposed to be the worst case scenario.” 

“I’m sorry Jaems,” Renjun apologises. “The top priority is not letting her swallow Na Holdings, and keeping you in the CEO position. It’s all over if she gets someone on her side to become Chairman.” 

“I get it, Jun, I do,” Jaemin sighs. “It’s just sickening that I have to follow every single one of my grandfather’s whims, even when he’s _ dead_, and I’m trying to fucking protect _ his _ stupid company.” 

“How about this, you can get a divorce once this blows over and Na Holdings stabilises; once your position is secure. I can help you draft a prenuptial agreement that states that there will be no split of properties and assets when you eventually break up,” Renjun suggests. 

“And how long would it be until I can do that?” 

Renjun hums in thought. “Two years? That’s the minimum number of years you have to be married before you can file for a divorce. Unless there are extenuating circumstances, of course. And frankly, it won’t look good on you in front of the shareholders to get a divorce too quickly.” 

Jaemin rubs his palm over his face and heaves a heavy sigh. “There really is no way out, _huh_.” 

——✩—— 

Jisung takes the news better then Jaemin expects. After Jaemin’s lengthy explanation, all he had said was, “Okay, so we should get married as soon as possible, right? And you have all the papers ready already?”

“You’re agreeing to this way too easily. Almost makes me feel like there’s a catch,” Jaemin states bluntly. 

Jisung shrugs with a small, unsure smile. “There’s no catch, I’m not tricking you into anything. _You_ are the one asking me to sign my life away to you for two years.” 

“Well, yeah,” Jaemin sighs pensively, “but I thought you’d be angry and ask me why we have to go through with this when I previously said there might be an alternative out of it.” 

“To be fair, you did say there was only a small chance it would work. Things are just going as planned from that unlucky day noona ran away, no?” Jisung looks down and plays with his fingers, linking and unlinking them. “And you agreed to take the blame for the divorce two years later already, there isn’t really much else I can ask for in this situation.”

Jaemin swallows awkwardly. “Do you have anything you want to add to the prenuptial?” 

Jisung gives it a read over and shakes his head. “It looks good to me. Plus there isn’t anything I have that you would want anyway. If it’s Park Industries, I’m sure Grandfather will be more than happy to let you take it instead. It would be in better hands,” he jokes. 

Jaemin lets out a little laugh at that. “Okay then. Let’s sign them, then?” 

They sign the papers, one copy for each of them. 

“When do you want to go register our marriage?” Jisung asks, smoothing his copy of the prenuptial agreement flat on the table. 

Jaemin checks his calendar on his phone. “How about this Thursday afternoon? I don’t have any meetings. We can just make it a quick one. Do you have any classes then?” 

“No,” Jisung states as he shakes his head. He wrinkles his nose in thought after a while. “How are you going to explain why we’re not holding an entire wedding ceremony though? I mean, it’s the Parks and the Nas. Our families are kind of a _big_ deal.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ve thought of a reason already. Just say I’m supposedly still in my mourning period for my grandfather, can’t have a flashy wedding, so we’re going low key, but promise we’ll make up for it three years later.” 

“And three years later, we’d be divorced anyway,” Jisung notes, and Jaemin nods. “Okay, sounds like a solid plan.” 

Things go through as planned on Thursday. They meet up at the city hall and Jaemin brings along Renjun to be a witness, and Jisung his mother. Jaemin hands Jisung a plain wedding band prepared beforehand and he slips it onto his ring finger, though it’s a little loose. The certificates are signed and Mrs. Park sheds a few tears. The officiant assumes it’s out of happiness, but the newlyweds know they’re of sadness and frustration. 

Jaemin offers Jisung a glass of wine back at their apartment after that. “Just a tiny celebration of our marriage, I guess.” 

Jisung takes it and knocks his glass against his. “To the next two years.” 

He makes the promise on his own to be the least of troubles as much as he can, just dutifully help Jaemin secure his position in Na Holdings, then return to his normal life after two years. 

“To the next two years,” Jaemin echoes with a slight smile. 

He quietly decides that the least he can do is be nice to the younger boy in the meantime, since he didn’t choose to be this situation either, and Jisung is helping him after all. 

_ Just two years, and everything will be alright after that. _


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When living together, habits change. Lots of patience and being accommodating is needed when there's another presence in the same four walls.

There isn’t particularly huge changes between them after the marriage. Jisung goes to school and Jaemin goes to work as usual. But the thing with living with someone else in one confined space after spending years alone is that it’s inevitable you take note of the other person’s presence in the house. Jisung notes that Jaemin always gets up at seven no matter the day of the week. Sometimes he gets up at the same time when he has nine a.m. classes to get to, sometimes he hears Jaemin bustling around their living room and kitchen for a while then the sound of the apartment door beeping shut, then goes back to sleep until he has to get up. Jaemin notices that Jisung spends a good portion of his time to himself in the apartment. He’s usually typing away at his laptop, round glasses that makes him look even younger, like a high schooler, perched on his nose, making Jaemin question if he would classify as a cradle snatcher for going through with the marriage. 

Habits change a little as well. Jaemin no longer puts in only one cup of rice into the rice cooker every morning, instinctively putting in two. He also sets out side dishes in portions meant for two, one portion left out for Jisung for whenever he wakes up to eat it. Jisung’s palate also changes as a result, ditching the cornflakes and milk he’s grown used to while living on campus for a traditional Korean breakfast with the rice and side dishes Jaemin leaves out for him.

Somehow, they fall into a routine despite there being no hard and fast rules laid out. A little standard operating procedure develops for how dinner goes. On days that Jaemin returns from work before six, he cooks and they have dinner together, have casual conversations about things going on at work or school, and Jisung does the dishes after that. On days that Jisung doesn’t see any signs of Jaemin by six thirty in the evening, he gets food delivered and orders based on the things they’ve highlighted on takeout menus from nearby eateries. Jaemin will come back whenever and eat the portion for him either as dinner or supper depending on the time. Wednesdays are an exception when Jisung’s classes run later into the evening, and if the time coincides with Jaemin leaving the office, he will drop Jisung a message that he’s coming around to pick him up. And Sundays, Jisung goes back to the Parks’ for dinner with his family, sometimes with Jaemin in tow, other times, excuses ready to explain Jaemin’s absence. 

So Jisung is a little lost when he wakes up one weekend morning to discover Jaemin still asleep, worn out from a long week of over time spent in office. They have an SOP for dinners, but not breakfasts. Or rather, Jaemin has always been unofficially in charge of breakfast. He stands in front of their rice cooker and fiddles with it, scrutinising all the different buttons closely. He briefly wonders if he should just call for takeout, but decides against it because Jaemin seems like the type who liked traditional, home cooked breakfasts. 

Jisung eventually resorts to the good old Internet for help. He manages to find instructions for their particular rice cooker model and carefully measures the rice and washes it, then lowers the pot into the cooker and set it to work. Side dishes are a bit more of a dilemma. There’s the usual ones in the fridge but Jaemin usually also makes a main dish to go with everything on the weekends. Cooking anything meat or fish related is out of the question because he’s sure he’s either going to burn it or serve it so undercooked it could probably get up and walk off their dining table. After searching for recipes on the net, he ultimately decides that the one for rolled omelettes seems the shortest and therefore should be the easiest. Besides, it’s _just_ eggs, _ right_? 

The recipe said prep time was supposed to take five minutes, but fifteen minutes later, Jisung is still carefully and slowly chopping up the vegetables needed. _ Slow and steady wins the race_, he convinces himself, even though there’s no race. The eggs are beaten and seasoned, and chopped vegetables mixed in. He eventually gets to pouring the mixture into a greased pan, then realises he has no idea how to tell if they are “just almost cooked through” like the recipe states. He prods at it with a spoon and accidentally tears it apart in the middle. He stares at it, scratches his head, unsure where to go from there because the recipe didn’t say anything about patching up holes in omelettes. 

His thoughts are interrupted by the sound of Jaemin getting up and washing up, and he struggles to get the omelette rolled up before it’s too late, but can’t flip it from its edge the slightest, much less roll it up.

“What are you doing?” 

Jisung startles and drops the spoon in his hand into the pan. Jaemin reacts quickly and fishes it out with a pair of chopsticks and turns the stove off. 

“Morning…?” Jisung greets awkwardly, gesturing towards the stove. “I was trying to make rolled omelettes.” 

Jaemin peers into the pan. The egg is folded in half but definitely not rolled up. “I think the keyword here is _ trying_.”

Jisung lowers his head and purses his lips disappointedly, cheeks puffing up a little at the familiar words. Jaemin glances at his crestfallen facial expression briefly and swallows the rest of his words. That’s not a face he can get mad at, and he decides to give Jisung a bit of credit for attempting to make breakfast. He tears a bit of the egg off with his chopsticks and pops it into his mouth before he can think twice. Jisung watches in anticipation as he chews slowly. 

“How… is it?” 

Jaemin continues to chew quietly and nod slowly, swallowing the food without saying a word. Jisung takes a bite himself, then frowns. He chews some more and his brows knit together even more. Jaemin raises a brow at him and his lips pull into a wry smile. Jisung reaches for the water jug and downs half a cup of water to swallow the food in his mouth. 

“I’m sorry, this is terrible, it’s not even rolled up properly and I have no idea why it tastes sweet like that, please don’t eat it anymore.” 

Jaemin reaches behind him and brings up a container, giving it a shake. “You used the sugar instead of the salt.” 

_ Sugar cubes, salt crystals, all white coloured three-dimensional squares, am I right? _ Jisung winces at his mistake. 

Jaemin sighs. “Just go sit at the table, I’ll do the cooking.” 

Jisung nods and slinks out of the kitchen as quickly as he can. 

——✩—— 

Living together also means more chances of bumping into each other, and higher chances of potentially coming into conflict. 

One of the days that Jaemin returns to the apartment early, he sees Jisung cleaning the floor of their living room with the full works, mop in hand and a bucket of water to the side. 

“Why are you mopping the floor all of a sudden?” he asks as he changes into his slippers. “We have a part-time helper doing it twice a week for a reason.” 

Jisung looks up and brushes his fringe out of his eyes. “Oh, you’re back! I, um, spilled my drink just now, so…” He points to the bucket of water. “Yeah.” 

Jaemin nods and treks past him to get to his room, noticing that the particular floor cleaner solution Jisung is using has a really strong scent. Something feels wrong when he steps onto the spots Jisung has mopped and there’s an adhesive feeling between his slippers and the floor with every lift of his feet. He stops short and turns to stare at Jisung. The younger boy startles under the scrutiny, unable to break eye contact as Jaemin lowers himself slowly and swipes at the floor with his fingers. 

It feels sticky and soapy. 

“How much floor cleaner did you put into the water?” 

Jisung jumps at the question and tries to recall. “I think, like, three capfuls?” 

“In that small bucket of water?” Jaemin asks incredulously. “Why would you do that?” 

Jisung panics. “I—um, everything just dissolved into the water and looked like there was nothing in it, so I added more just to make sure?” 

Jaemin exhales heavily and rubs a hand over his face. He stalks over and takes the mop out of Jisung’s hands, and literally picks the younger boy up by the collar and pushes him to sit down on the couch. 

“Sit down here and don’t move,” he instructs sternly, taking the bucket with him to the washroom. Jisung gulps as he hears Jaemin flushing the contents of the bucket down the drain and filling it with just water. Jaemin reemerges and gets to wiping the floor again and Jisung hastily offers to do it instead. “Let me do it, I made the mess after all.” 

“Just sit there and don’t do anything else,” Jaemin replies, nudging him away, leaving no room for negotiation. “If you do it, I still have to do it. So let’s skip the part where you do it and we don’t have to both do the work.” 

Jisung looks down and curls in a little on himself at his words. The corner of his lips pull down a little, and he pulls the sleeves of his sweater over his palms, rubbing at the soft wool material for comfort. 

Dinner after that is more quiet than usual. Jisung is unsure if Jaemin is still mad at him about mopping the floor, while Jaemin ponders if he had been a little too harsh with his words. The silence continues all the way until Jisung is done with the dishes and they both retreat to their own rooms for the night. 

Around ten p.m., Jaemin leaves his room to get a glass of water and hears a soft voice coming from Jisung’s room. He knocks on the younger boy’s door lightly, intending to talk about the floor incident and perhaps apologise for being unnecessarily harsh. The door gives way and opens slightly, and he notices that Jisung’s room is dark; he’s switched off the lights and is under the covers, but he seems to be on the phone with someone, going by the murmuring. And he doesn’t seem to have noticed Jaemin standing by his door. 

“Mom, it’s fine. I still see you every week! You didn’t come visit me when I was living on campus anyway, this isn’t any different.” 

There’s a pause and Jaemin assumes Jisung’s mom is talking. 

“It’s not _that_ different. It’s just like living with... a housemate?” 

“You ask that every week, it’s fine, I’m fine. He treats me well, don’t worry.” 

“Yes, yes, I’ve been eating well. No I haven’t been eating take outs this week. I told you, he cooks really well.” 

“_Moooom_. Don’t worry about me, okay? Everything is okay. I’m okay. I still live my life as per normal. I still go to school as usual. I still see you every week.” 

“Have you heard from noona recently? Is she happy with her boyfriend?” 

“That’s good then. Everything’s all right if she’s happy, Grandfather’s happy. Everyone’s happy.” 

“I’m… happy too. Married life is nice, not as bad as I thought to be honest.” 

“Yes, I tell you that every time but you never believe me. I promise I’m really fine. It’s getting late, I’ll see you tomorrow evening okay?” 

“Okay. Goodnight, mom.” 

Jaemin hastily retreats and pulls the door close as gently as he can. He makes his way to the living room to pour himself a drink and mull over Jisung’s conversation with his mother. Moments later, Jisung also pads into the room, and the older man notices the slight hesitancy and half step backwards when he notices Jaemin is already at the dining table. Jaemin bites at his bottom lip, feelings of discomfort eating him up when he realises he invokes such a negative reaction from the younger boy with just his mere presence. He pours Jisung a glass of water and hands it to him, motioning for him to sit down with him. Jisung takes the glass from him carefully and thanks him softly with a slight bow. 

Curiosity gets the better of Jaemin and he asks, “Why don’t you tell your mother that I’ve been less than nice to you? Like, I get angry and say mean things to you when you’re just trying to help around the house.” Jisung looks up in alarm and he hastily adds, “I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I was going to talk to you, and it just so happened…” He trails off and rubs the side of his neck awkwardly. 

“It’s okay. I didn’t say anything that has to be kept secret from you anyway.” Jisung looks down at his lap again, hands clasping the glass tightly. “I just didn’t think it’s right to complain about it since it’s my fault anyway.” 

“I’m at fault too, I shouldn’t have said those things just now, the words just come out before I process them,” Jaemin admits apologetically. “I’m sorry, and you shouldn’t feel like it’s all on you. If you want to complain to your mom and tell her the truth that you hate being in this situation, it’s okay. You… You don’t have to lie to her that everything is fine and you’re happy.” 

Jisung smiles wryly. “It’s only for two years, and we’ve already made it past almost half a year. Things are getting better for you in your office. There’s not much changes to my life. And even if it’s going to end eventually, for the time period we’re married, it’s not nice to constantly think badly of it.” He purses his lips and his cheeks lift slightly with the little pout, touching the rim of his glasses. Jaemin lets himself briefly wonder if it would feel as soft as it looks if he prodded his cheek. 

“Also… I don’t know, it just feels wrong to not even _ try _ be happy in a marriage, especially since we’re in it already. I just thought that it doesn’t have to be a bad thing and constantly be thinking of when I can get out of it. That will just make me feel awful everyday and feel like I’m not respecting the marriage, even if it’s just in name.”

Jaemin’s bottom lip has already found its way between his teeth as he listens to Jisung’s words. He feels bad, really bad, because the younger boy has been trying to make the best of the situation, while he’s just living each day as it comes, counting down to the two year deadline. There isn’t even enough fingers on both hands for him to count the number of times he’s spent lunches with Renjun lamenting that two years cannot pass by fast enough, that he’s ready to go back to his single bachelor life. A sense of guilt envelopes him because he hasn’t even tried to be amicable with Jisung, quick to anger and berate him just like he would any worker who makes mistakes in his office. Jisung _isn’t_ even his employee, and he reminds himself of the fact that the younger boy agreed to the whole marriage shebang partly to help him out as well. 

The silence drags on too long and Jisung looks down again, pressing his lips together into a thin line. “I talked too much, didn’t I? I don’t mean to say anything to make you upset—” 

“No,” Jaemin replies quickly with a shake of his head. “No, it’s just— I was just thinking...” Jisung blinks at him curiously as he waits for him to finish his sentence, but he finds himself unable to do so. Jaemin breaks the eye contact and hides the momentary inability to articulate with a cough and takes a sip of water. “It’s something at work,” he finally says, cringing inwardly at the lousy cover up. “I just remembered… That I have something else I need to prepare for the meeting tomorrow. Really need to get to it. I don’t know why I forgot, but I should be doing it. It’s kind of important, but it somehow slipped my mind. Funny how memory works, huh?”

Jisung nods and lets out a soft _ ahh… _ at his words. The atmosphere becomes awkward again and Jaemin mentally hits himself for the stupid rambling. 

“It’s getting late, isn’t it? You should go to sleep, kid,” Jaemin says after a while. Jisung gets up obediently from his chair and heads back to his room after a soft mumble of goodnight. Jaemin stares after his retreating figure, sighing. He can’t help but think how awfully meek and docile the younger boy is, and how easily he’s taken advantage of his shy nature to overlook that he’s his own person who has thoughts and feelings too. 

_ You have to be nicer to him_, Jaemin chides himself. _ He didn’t choose to be in this situation either. Be nice, be better, it’s not that hard. _

He runs both hands through his hair tiredly with a sigh. 

——✩—— 

Things do get slightly better after that, when Jaemin makes it a point to live in a peaceful manner with Jisung. Over the months, he gets better at it and recognises that many times, Jisung just wants to help but doesn’t know how to. There has been no major incidents ever since a mutual agreement was reached to establish the first of few house rules, including any cooking involving fire should be handled by Jaemin, and that anything to do with the household should be discussed with both parties first. Jaemin tacks on a secret house rule for himself to not lash out at Jisung immediately whenever something goes wrong because everybody makes mistakes in life. 

The secret house rule finally comes to test when after a long day at work, Jaemin discovers that Jisung is running a load of laundry, but did not completely shut the detergent compartment. He stops the wash and pulls the drawer out to see a Tide Pod wedge into it. He eyes it in a confused manner for a few moments, then recalls they ran out of detergent powder a week ago, and he bought the pods as a replacement since they looked more convenient, and would probably lessen the chances of Jisung putting too much or too little detergent into their clothes. 

“You’re back,” Jisung greets with a slight bow when he shuffles into their kitchen. Jaemin doesn’t say a thing, still trying to collect his thoughts about the half-done laundry. Jisung notices the stopped washing machine. “Is there something wrong…?”

Jaemin inhales slowly. “You didn’t shut the detergent drawer for the washing machine. And you put the detergent pod into it?” 

Jisung blinks in confusion. “Was I not supposed to?” 

“I— What?” Jaemin questions, bewildered. “How— Why did it make sense to you to put this,” he lifts the pod up and squishes it a little to exemplify its chunkiness, “into the drawer but not see if you could shut it? Or like, I don’t know, wouldn’t it make more sense to maybe cut it open and pour the contents in the drawer going by that logic? What is this train of thought, I don’t get it, so help me understand.” He realises too late that he’s launched into a tirade on the younger boy, who looks down at the floor sullenly, bottom lip jutting out in an unconscious pout. “I… I mean… Just—just throw the pod into the main washer before you put in the clothes, okay?” 

Jisung nods. Jaemin sighs, wanting to reach out and apologise for losing his cool; he’s just really had a long day at work and accidentally snapped at Jisung, but can’t find the right words. 

“And… Just put one, only one, got it? It’s really concentrated detergent,” Jaemin rambles on. 

Jisung nods again, eyes still trained on the tiles of their kitchen. 

Jaemin scrambles frantically for something else to say. “Don’t actually cut it open, I was— it’s just nonsense coming out of my mouth, I don’t actually mean you should do that.” 

Jisung nods for the third time and Jaemin grows desperate to hear the younger boy say something, even if it’s to yell at him for being mean. 

“Are you just going to keep nodding?” 

Jisung begins to nod again then stops himself short, glancing up carefully into Jaemin’s eyes, before quickly averting his gaze to his feet again. He laces his fingers together tightly, fidgeting slightly under Jaemin’s stare. Jaemin sighs and reaches out awkwardly, touching the crown of his head and brushing gently. 

“I’m not— I wasn’t angry, okay?” 

Jisung nods in lieu of a reply once more. Jaemin sinks his teeth into his bottom lip pensively. 

“Why… Why are you not talking to me? Are you upset that I scolded you?” 

Jisung shakes his head this time, mumbling something that Jaemin doesn’t quite catch. 

“Hmm?” Jaemin leans closer to hear him better. “What did you say?” 

The younger boy takes a half-step back and finds his back pressed against their fridge. Jaemin waits for him to repeat himself. Jisung swallows and mutters softly again.

“I just don’t want to say something wrong and make you more upset with me.” 

Jaemin freezes at his words. Jisung quickly apologises and ducks out of the kitchen, tell tale sound of his door closing seconds after. Jaemin stares after him and takes a long look at the closed door. He eventually sighs, rubbing a hand over his face — _ come on, wasn’t the plan to be good to the kid? Why did things come to this again? _

——✩—— 

“You brought food to work?” Renjun asks incredulously. He had wanted to ask Jaemin out to lunch, only to see food already on his desk in a non-disposable container. 

Jaemin stares at the lunchbox on his desk and nods. “Leftovers from last night.” 

Renjun squints at him, then the food, then back at him again. “_Huh_.” 

“What?” Jaemin grows slightly uncomfortable under his friend’s scrutiny. “What’s wrong with bringing food to work?” 

“Nothing,” Renjun quips. “It’s just that you’ve never done it before, until today.” 

Jaemin frowns. “That’s because I never had to deal with leftovers until recently. I just— somehow— I just make food for two people because I’ve gotten used to doing so. But now it’s piling up in our fridge because Jisung hasn’t been around to eat it.” 

Renjun raises an inquisitive brow at him. “Sound like you’re on pretty good terms with your husband-in-name to constantly make food for him.” 

“You think,” Jaemin snorts and stabs at his food. “I don’t even think I’ve seen him once in the past week.” 

It then dawns on him that he really hasn’t caught a single glimpse of the younger boy around the house since the last laundry incident. Jisung seems to be really busy with school lately, up and out of the house before Jaemin, disappears for the entire day, even the days he has supposedly no classes. Before six he usually sends a short text message to Jaemin that he’ll be back late because of projects, then he returns hours after dinner time. Jaemin thinks he does hear Jisung come back, but before he even gets into his slippers and out his room door to check, he already hears Jisung’s room door click shut opposite from his. 

“He says he’s busy with school,” Jaemin says aloud. “He’s out by the time I’m up, then he comes back late, around ten to eleven?” 

Renjun looks pointedly at him. “We’ve both been in university before, what’s he doing that requires him to be there more than twelve hours a day? Sounds more like he’s avoiding you.” 

Jaemin sits up straighter at the thought. 

“Did you guys fight?” 

Jaemin shakes his head quickly, then pauses. “I don’t think so...?” 

Renjun rolls his eyes. “What do you mean you don’t think so? It’s either a yes or no.” 

Jaemin picks at the skin on the side of his thumb. It stings and he realises he’s picked at it hard enough to make it bleed. Renjun eyes him in a judgmental manner. 

“Whatever it is, just remember to not let it escalate. It hasn’t even been a full year yet, I will personally murder you if you tell me you’re divorcing him next week,” Renjun warns him. 

Jaemin sighs, deflating in his chair, prodding more at his food. 

At the end of the day, Jaemin decides against making food for dinner since Jisung wasn’t going to be around again. (Today’s excuse was that he’s _ going to be out with some friends and will be back late, sorry!_) He’s not even in the mood for takeout, shoving all the menus back into the drawer under their television. One look at the snack stash next to their dining table has him sighing again. It’s been dwindling for a while now and Jisung hasn’t been around much to refill it. He decides to head down to the nearby convenience store to restock their snack supply and maybe grab a quick instant meal. 

What he doesn’t expect, however, is the familiar figure clad in a dark coloured hoodie and jeans, hands playing with the tassels of his jacket distractedly, seated at one of the tables inside the store. There’s a ramen box in front of Jisung, and his school bag on the seat next to him. Across the table, the part-time worker is sitting down with him, and they seem to be having a rather animated conversation. Jaemin frowns, _ did Jisung lie to him about being out with friends? _ Whether he did or did not, _ why would Jisung rather eat with a convenience store cashier than go home and eat with him? _

He’s about to storm in and confront Jisung — didn’t the younger boy say that he would respect the marriage, even if it was just in name? It’s not exactly cheating per se, and he can’t confirm it actually is until he asks, but the fact Jisung would lie to him and see someone else behind his back makes all the ugly, bitter feelings arise and boil over inside him. Jaemin steps closer to listen in on the conversation, rationalising that it’s not completely wrong of him to want to know what his husband-in-name is talking to a complete stranger about. 

“—just... I’m trying you know, but it never works out. I’ve been pampered all my life and really suck at everything around the house.” Jisung states with a visible deflate in his shoulders, slumping forward to bury his face in his arm. 

The cashier snorts. “I don’t know man, is it not common sense not to put in three entire cups of floor cleaning solution into the mop bucket? What are you cleaning, an entire industrial factory? We don’t live in big enough apartments in Korea to use a ten litre bucket of water to mop the floor, my dear little grasshopper.” 

Jaemin chews on the inner side of his cheek to keep himself from laughing. He briefly eyes the nametag on the cashier’s uniform. _ Lee Donghyuck_, he mentally reads aloud. _ Well, Donghyuck, at least we’re on the same page about the cleaning solution incident_. He ducks into the next aisle after that and pretends to be preoccupied selecting between hot and spicy chips versus sour cream and onion chips. 

“_Hyuuuung_,” Jisung whines in an upset manner. Hearing that makes jealousy rear its ugly head in Jaemin; he’s pretty sure Jisung’s never even called him that once before, and they’ve lived together for some time already. _ Who is this part-timer worker and why are they so close? _

“I just want to be able to do something around the house. He comes back after work tired and has to cook for us both because I can’t. So it’s only right that I do something else to make up for it. But I just don’t know what,” Jisung sulks, stirring the chopsticks around in his empty instant noodle box. Jaemin swallows uncomfortably at his words, fingers digging into the foil packaging of the chips. 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “You speak as if you’ve been going home to eat. I honestly think you’ve been in here more than me this week, and I _ work _ here.” 

Jaemin’s hand stops short at the shelves upon hearing those words. _ So Jisung had lied to him all week about being busy in school_. 

“I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Jisung states, voice soft and tinny. “All I do is annoy him when I’m around him. And I think I made him really angry this time… It’s not even my first time doing laundry anymore. Why am I such a disappointment?” 

Donghyuck takes pity on the younger boy and reaches over to pull at his cheek with a sigh. “You’re not a disappointment. All relationships are just hard, okay?” 

Jaemin, who’s heard enough, randomly grabs a few packets of chips off the shelves and makes his way to the counter. “Excuse me, _ part-timer_,” he calls out in their direction. “I’d like to make payment.” 

Jisung startles at the familiar voice and looks up. Donghyuck eyes him curiously but gets up to check out Jaemin’s items. He can’t help but feel Jaemin seems to be glaring at him with some sort of animosity throughout the process. Once the items are bagged, Jaemin turns to Jisung who’s fretting as he looks down, pulling even more at the frayed ends of his hoodie’s tassels. 

“Are you done eating?” Jaemin asks, keeping his voice as low and soft as he can. “If you are, let’s go home.” 

Jisung nods and picks up his bag. He casts a brief glance at Donghyuck, whose jaw is almost touching the floor, gaze darting back and forth the two of them, as if asking _ this guy is your husband? _ Jisung offers him a brief nod of acknowledgement and half-bow in gratitude for playing pseudo-counsellor and letting him hang around the store. _ Time to face the music_.

The walk back to their apartment is quiet save for the brushing of the plastic bag against Jaemin’s leg. He walks ahead, unsure of what to say as he mentally berates himself for making Jisung avoid going home because he’s scared of annoying him with his mere presence. _ Seriously, what happened to treating the kid better? _

Jisung, on the other hand, grows more anxious by the seconds in the silence. He doesn’t know how much Jaemin has heard, but he thinks he’s definitely gotten Jaemin angry this time; he has no excuses up his sleeve for blatantly lying about his absence around the house only to be found in the nearby convenience store. He starts to tear up a little and hurriedly wipes them away with the back of his hand. 

Jaemin stops in his steps and decides to at least apologise first, turning around, only to see Jisung crying quietly behind him. The tears drip down his face before Jisung can wipe at them, wet trails down his cheeks reflecting the glow of the street lamps. 

“Fuck— I mean, no, why are you crying, oh _ no no no_.” Jaemin panics and pulls his sleeves over his palms to dab at Jisung’s face. 

“I’m sorry, I’m really sorry, everything I do just makes you angry and annoyed at me,” Jisung sobs. 

“Why are you apologising? I’m the one who’s supposed to say sorry,” Jaemin states apologetically. “If this is about the washing machine, I’m at fault too okay? I just got frustrated and said all those things before I could filter myself. I forget that everything takes time to learn. You didn’t annoy me, all right? Just— Just treat it as a terrible day— I had a terrible day and took it out on you for no good reason. It’s me, hmm?” 

Jisung shakes his head. “It was my fault.” The corner of his lips pull down and a few more tears fall. “I’m just a nuisance to you and around the house…” 

“Is that why you have been avoiding me?” Jaemin asks, chest feeling heavy and stuffy all of a sudden, unsure of what he wants to hear the younger boy answer. 

Jisung averts his gaze to look at the ground, shuffling uncomfortably in his shoes. “I—I’ve been busy with school.” 

“Are you sure it’s school? Or are you busy talking to convenience store workers every night?” 

Jisung looks up in alarm. “It’s not like that! Donghyuck hyung just lets me sit around and listen to me talk. And I… I just thought it’d be better if I’m not around doing stupid things to upset you.” Tears continue to run down his face and he rubs at his eyes, unable to help the small pout on his lips. 

Jaemin’s eyebrows knit together as he takes in the pitiful look on Jisung’s face, at lost as to what to do. He mentally says _ fuck it _ and throws all caution to the wind, stepping closer so he’s standing toe to toe with Jisung, before hugging the younger boy close and letting him press his wet face against his shirt. “I told you, I’m not upset with you. I’m just… Just new to this concept of living with someone and having to care for them.” He exhales in a loud sigh. “So I’m sorry, that I’m bad at things relationship and kinship-wise. I’m not finding excuses for myself because I was an asshole, but these things just don’t come naturally to me because of the environment I grew up in.” 

Jisung nods against his shoulder. “I know.” He slowly, cautiously wraps his own arms around Jaemin’s waist. “This marriage didn’t start out on good terms for either of us… It needs a whole lot of getting used to.” He chuckles sadly as he tugs at the sleeves of his hoodie to cover his palms before linking his fingers behind Jaemin’s back. “Maybe we won’t even get used to it before we divorce.” 

Jaemin tenses up at his words. He’s not entirely sure why, it's nothing but the truth, but it still disturbs him to hear Jisung say them out loud. 

“And I just… I just want to make things easier for us both for these two years, you know? It’s better to be able to think about going home to someone you like a little bit than to a stranger, or worse, someone you dislike. But things just aren’t going the way I hope,” Jisung murmurs sadly. 

Jaemin caresses the back of Jisung’s head gently. “I know. I know you’re trying, and you’re trying very hard already. It’s been me who hasn’t been trying enough. It takes two hands to clap, you know.” Jaemin feels Jisung tensing up against him and ready to protest. He cuts him off first. “Don’t say it’s not it. There’s only two of us living together, there’s no point denying it.” Jisung deflates into his arms again and Jaemin let’s himself smile a little at his reaction. “I can’t promise everything will work out, but let’s try again? Together, this time?” 

Jisung’s breath hitches in his throat at the proposal. He finds himself nodding. “Okay,” he agrees easily. “Let’s try together, this time.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Things seem to be taking a turn for the better between Jaemin and Jisung, until the time they set for the marriage runs out.

Jaemin finds himself walking into Baskin Robbins after work to pick out a tub of ice cream for Jisung. He’s figured the kid probably likes ice cream, considering the speed at which he empties their freezer of it. The problem is what flavour should he get, because he’s seen Jisung eat a variety of the dessert, ranging from Neapolitan to new york cheesecake and even the strangely named _ My Mom is an Alien_. 

He spots a brightly coloured ice cream labelled _ Shooting Star_, creamy white with pink swirls and blue dots. It reminds him of detergent powder, honestly, and the disastrous incident from when he first moved into the apartment. The corner of his lips curl up a little and he makes the choice to get it. 

Jisung’s eyes positively light up at the sight of the familiar pink label printed on the tub Jaemin hands to him, and it’s in the biggest size he’s ever seen. “What’s this?” He doesn’t wait for the older man’s reply before pulling the lid off and peeling the film open. 

“Peace offering,” Jaemin states as casually as he can. “A gift to apologise and also mark the start of a hopefully successful partnership.” 

Jisung nods distractedly, already wedging a spoon into the frozen hard ice cream. “You know, the colours of this thing really looks like… Like detergent powder.” 

Jaemin blinks at his words, slightly startled. “That’s what I thought of too.” He watches as Jisung unsuccessfully stabs at the top of the ice cream. The younger boy looks up and pouts a little bit. “Did it remind you of the first time you saw me do laundry?” 

Jaemin laughs and ruffles his hair. _ Maybe we’re not so different after all_, he thinks to himself. The lack of a verbal answer confirms it anyway, and Jisung sulkily holds the spoon in his mouth. 

“Let the ice cream defrost for a while before eating, silly,” Jaemin chides. 

Jisung smirks cheekily as he takes the saliva-covered spoon out of his mouth and wedges it into the ice cream successfully this time. He grins triumphantly. “_Or_, warm up the spoon in your mouth so it can get through the frozen layer.” 

Jaemin cringes in disgust. “How am I going to eat it knowing your saliva is in it now?” 

“Oh.” Jisung looks up from the tub and pretends to fret, knitting his brows and pursing his lips. “This was supposed to be shared?” He helps himself to a giant mouthful. “_Mmhm_! What’s this, it’s awesome!” He savours the taste on his tongue and suddenly jerks up. He turns to stare at Jaemin, eyes lighting up with amazement. Jaemin can’t help but laugh at his delighted expression. “Oh my god— There’s popping candy in it! What is this called again—” He picks up the tub to read its label, “_Shooting Star_, I’m definitely getting this again next time.” Another huge spoonful goes into his mouth and his faux frown is gone, replaced by an excited smile. “Such a shame you can’t eat it anymore because it’s all tainted by _ my _ saliva.” 

Jaemin flicks at the younger boy’s forehead, but there’s a slightly fond smile on his face. Jisung lets out a disgruntled harrumph and scrunches his nose at the older. “Fat chance getting me to share this after you attacked me.” 

Jaemin simply laughs and ruffles his hair, reminding him to _ eat slowly, and don’t finish it all in one go! _

Hours later, Jisung groans while clutching his stomach. Self-control has never really been his forte when it comes to food, and right now he regrets not listening to Jaemin a little bit. Granted, he didn’t eat it _ all_, but he did finish a good half of the half-gallon tub. 

“What did I say, I told you to eat it slowly, didn’t I?” Jaemin nags as he fusses over the sick boy, tucking him back into his bed after the second trip to the bathroom to throw up most of the contents of his stomach. He hands Jisung a glass of warm water, only to get rejected with a sulky whine. “Don’t wanna.” The thought of anything going through his digestive tract, upwards or downwards, makes him feel sick.

“Drink it, you have to replace all the fluids you threw up,” Jaemin says sternly, pushing the glass closer to his lips. Jisung pouts and looks up into his eyes in the most pitiful manner possible, but Jaemin doesn’t relent. Reluctantly, Jisung finally leans down to take a small sip, even making a dramatic show of swallowing it with great difficulty. 

“You’re a baby, a big baby,” Jaemin states with a sigh, putting the glass down by his bedside. “If you didn’t eat half the tub of ice cream you wouldn’t be in this state now.” 

“I’m sorry,” Jisung croaks out gloomily. 

Jaemin brushes the younger boy’s fringe out of his eyes with a sigh. “What are you apologising for, hmm?” 

“That I didn’t listen to you and am causing you trouble now,” Jisung mumbles, eyes casting downwards. He adds in a softer, quieter voice, “Also because I didn’t share the ice cream with you. This is probably karma.” 

Jaemin laughs at the remark. “You really… You’re really something.” He recalls seeing Donghyuck pinching Jisung’s cheeks and itches to reach out for the boy’s face as well. The smile doesn’t leave his eyes as he prods a finger at Jisung’s cheek. It’s soft, so much softer than he expected. “Cute,” he mumbles aloud before he can stop himself. 

Jisung hears him and flushes, tip of his ears growing red. Jaemin clears his throat and straightens up as he retracts his hand. “You should get some sleep, you’ll feel less uncomfortable asleep.” Jisung nods and wriggles further under his blanket. 

“Goodnight,” Jaemin says before he switches off the lights to Jisung’s room, stepping out. 

“Thank you, and goodnight,” Jisung replies in the dark, just before his door fully shuts. 

——✩——

Morning comes and Jisung wakes up groggily to a sweet scent wafting through the house. Soft knocks come at his door as he rubs the sleep out of his eyes. Jaemin peeks in from behind the door, sees he’s awake, before walking in with a tray. “Good morning,” he greets as he sets the tray of food down on the bedside table. “Feeling better?” 

Jisung wrinkles his nose and eyes the food Jaemin made, petting his stomach. “Slightly better, yeah,” he replies a little hoarsely. 

“What did I tell you, listen to how you sound. You should’ve drank more water,” Jaemin nags. “If you’re still unwell we should get you to see a doctor.” 

“It’s okay, I’m fine, just a little tired.” Jisung waves him off. 

“Any important classes for today?” Jaemin asks. Jisung mentally runs through his schedule and shakes his head. “Okay then you can skip for the day and sleep some more.” 

Jisung nods. “What’s that?” he asks, head tilting towards the bowl of orange looking broth on the tray. 

“Pumpkin porridge. Figured you might be more willing to consume liquids if it were sweet, and get your required nutrition in while we’re at it,” Jaemin replies. “You better eat it all. I’m going to watch you and make sure of that.”

Jisung purses his lips into a wry smile and brings a spoonful of it to his lips. There’s steam coming off from it in wispy tendrils and he wrinkles his nose, putting it back down. “It’s too hot. I’ll eat it later.” 

Jaemin rolls his eyes and plants himself comfortably on the edge of Jisung’s bed. “I’m not leaving until I see you finish it.” 

“Don’t you have work to get to?” Jisung splutters under the staring. Jaemin shrugs. “There’s only one important meeting which has been rescheduled to the noon after lunch. So I definitely have time to watch you and make sure you’re eating properly. Especially after the entire week of junk food you’ve been eating.” 

The corner of Jisung’s lips pull down slightly at the thought of the week he spent outside of their apartment as much as he could. Jaemin chews at his bottom lip guiltily when he realises what he said. After a minute of uncomfortable silence, Jaemin nudges the sick boy slightly. 

“Wanna do something while the porridge cools?” 

Jisung looks up hesitantly. “Do what?” 

“Hmm.” Jaemin looks around the room and spots Jisung’s phone next to the tray on his bedside table. He picks it up and tosses it into the younger boy’s lap. “I saw you play PUBG before.” 

Jisung cocks his head to the side as he tries to recall when exactly did he play the game in front of Jaemin. “On the car ride to grandfather’s place?” He gets a nod in return. 

“I’m pretty good at it too,” Jaemin states with a smirk. 

“Are you challenging me?” Jisung asks, quirking an eyebrow at the older man. 

“Do you accept the challenge?” 

There are a few things Jisung would fight for, and his gaming prowess is one of them. 

“Game on.” 

Jisung grimaces when he sees Jaemin’s character load onscreen. It’s decked out in limited edition items from the Kakao Friends mystery box, Ryan backpack and Apeach frying pan, the full works. Jaemin tuts at him when he notices his facial expression. “Don’t judge a book by its cover. You’ll find out that skill is more important than what the character is outfitted in.” He looks at Jisung’s character and frowns. “Why is yours a female?” 

“_Don’t judge a book by its cover,_” Jisung mimics. “You’ll soon find out that it makes my character harder to spot.” 

The solo games are taken very seriously, and Jaemin finds out that Jisung is right, it does takes a bit more effort to aim and shoot at his character. Jisung also finds out Jaemin was not lying about being good at the game, dying twice by his hands before throwing in the towel with a sulk. Jaemin laughs and offers to play a round as a team instead. Their team with two other random players emerges winner and Jaemin sticks out his hand for a high-five, but Jisung throws a scissors gesture out of spite for being sniped twice by the older man. 

“What’s this supposed to mean, is this some younger kids type of thing these days?” 

Jisung grins mischievously. “Yeah. You threw paper, I threw scissors. It means _ I win_, old man.”

Jaemin smacks the younger boy’s hand away, narrowing his eyes at him. He suddenly thinks about how Jisung referred to Donghyuck as _ hyung_, but here he is getting called _ old man_. The petty side in him gets the better of him in the end as he grumbles, “What’s this preferential treatment, I’m not _ thaaat _ much older than you.” He chews on the inside of his cheek sulkily. “Why do you call strangers you meet in convenience stores _ hyung _ but not me?” 

The younger boy casts his eyes downwards immediately, smile wiped off of his face. He fumbles with his hands before pulling at his blanket, rubbing at the soft material between his fingers. “Sorry. I wasn’t sure if you would like that.” 

Jaemin frowns at the apology; why does every step he tries to take with Jisung seem to result in two steps backwards? “Why do you keep apologising? And what do you mean? What else would you address a guy older than you? _ Old man_?” 

He’s not sure if it’s the trick of the light, but there’s a brief glint in Jisung’s eyes, and a tiny pull of his lips upwards— it’s so quick, if he had blinked he would have missed it. 

“_Insolent brat_,” Jaemin mutters aloud before he can stop himself. Jisung glances up at him, eyes partially shielded by his long fringe, looking as if he’s unsure if the comment was directed at him. “Yeah, _ you_. There’s only one other person in this room.” Jisung purses his lips tightly, looking like he’s trying hard not to smile. Jaemin rolls his eyes and checks the time on his watch. It’s been a good while; he reaches over to touch the side of the bowl of porridge and it’s just slightly warm now, definitely okay for consumption. “It’s cooled enough. You should eat it now before it gets any colder.” 

Jisung starts eating obediently and when he’s done, Jaemin can’t help but ruffle his hair proudly seeing him finishing it all. 

“Time for me to get to work. Rest up well, hmm? And you’re not allowed to eat anymore of the ice cream until you’re better, understood?” 

Jisung pouts at the statement but nods anyway. Jaemin gives in to the urge and pinches his cheek. The younger boy looks up with wide eyes, blinking in confusion at the gesture of affection. The corner of Jaemin’s lips pull up in a small smile and he pets the sick boy’s head lightly. Jisung is pretty sure he has a stomachache, so why does he feel warm all over like he has a fever too? 

“I’m off,” Jaemin says, bringing the tray out the room with him. 

“W-wait! Uh—” Jisung calls out before he’s out of earshot. Jaemin pops his head back into the room. “Thank you… _ hyung_.” Jisung looks down shyly after that, ears burning a hot red. 

Jaemin smiles. “You’re welcome, kid.” 

Renjun spots Jaemin coming in late at the office and sneaks up on him. “So,” he begins, right behind his CEO, startling Jaemin. “It’s not everyday that we get a last minute notification informing us of an urgent shift of meeting timings due to _ some unforeseen circumstances_. What was it?” 

“Nothing. I can do anything I want, I call the shots in this building.” Jaemin picks up his pace towards his office, hoping to leave Renjun behind and not explain anything. He grimaces when he sees his senior lawyer still right at his heels just as he is about to shut his door. 

“Well?” Renjun quirks an eyebrow at him. 

Jaemin chews at his bottom lip while settling into his chair. There’s no protocol on how to tell your colleague you rescheduled a staff meeting because your husband-in-name fell sick from eating a quarter gallon of ice cream you bought for him. 

Renjun assumes the worst when he sees the nervousness on his friend’s face. He pulls out the chair across from Jaemin and seats himself down cautiously. “Okay, so what are your plans now? How are you going to hide from the board of directors you’ve separated from the grandson of Park Industries? Did you get him to agree to not say anything for the time being?” 

“_What_?!” Jaemin exclaims incredulously. His confusion morphs into a frown when the subtext of Renjun’s words dawns on him. “The fuck, can you have more faith in me? I didn’t divorce the kid! We’re getting along now, mind you.” 

“You didn’t? Thank god,” Renjun sighs in relief and leans back into the chair, sliding down to settle more comfortably. “Then what is it? Why did you postpone the staff meeting?” 

Jaemin fumbles with his hands, making broad sweeps and waving around without actually articulating a word. He stops and folds his hands into his lap demurely when he notices the utterly unamused expression on his colleague’s face. 

“Wah, really, it’s so stressful to talk to you,” Renjun scowls, massaging his fingers into his temples. “I speak _three_ languages and _none_ of them are Jaemin sign language. Can we do this in Korean, _please_.”

“Jisung fell sick,” Jaemin heaves a heavy sigh. Renjun stares at him like he’s grown three heads in the span of saying three words. “Like, it’s like, you know, like,” Jaemin stutters, fingers wriggling in the air as he tries to put his words together. “I bought him ice cream as a peace offering. I didn’t know he would eat half the giant tub in one sitting, like, how am I supposed to know Baskin Robbins made ice cream _ that good_, with strawberry syrup swirls, popping candy and all? All his description, mind you, he didn’t even share it with me. Then kids like him just fall into the literal sugar-coated trap and stuff themselves with all that sugary, non-nutritious, flavoured frozen milk and cream,” he pulls a face at that. “It’s not entirely my fault but also kind of my fault for not stopping him and he got mildly poisoned, but like how does that even work? Getting poisoned by a sugar overdose? He’s a baby when sick too, refused to drink water or eat hot food. And I can’t fault him for that because he’s sick, but I had to make sure he didn’t further poison himself with more junk food so I watched him finish a bowl of porridge before coming in.” 

Renjun stares at him for a good ten seconds, mouth slightly agape. “You’re either tongue-tied or a loose cannon; I didn’t even know people could say so many things at once in Korean.” Jaemin glares at him and he raises both hands in mock surrender. “I don’t even know what I was supposed to be listening to. Your tirade on how Baskin Robbin makes good ice cream, or the fact you just called your husband-in-name _ baby_?” 

“I did not,” Jaemin retorts defensively, crossing his arms. 

“You did.” 

Jaemin huffs, ears turning red. “I meant it as, he behaves _ like a baby_. It’s not used as a pet name.” 

“Okay, sure.” Renjun shrugs. “Pretty big progress though, you went from getting avoided and on the verge of divorce to poisoning him with ice cream, then making thirty of your senior executives wait all morning while you nurse him back to health.” 

“The notification was sent out last night. I did not make anyone wait all morning. Even if I did, what can you do about it? I am your CEO,” Jaemin rebuts. “And also, I did not _nurse_ _him back to health_. I’m just making sure he doesn’t die while under the same roof as I am.” 

“Whatever you say, _ boss_.” Renjun nods along patronisingly. “Just keep it that way for the rest of the duration of your marriage. Don’t get into any conflicts with him in the meanwhile.” 

“I know what I’m doing,” Jaemin grumbles. “Now shoo, go away, I need a fifteen minute intermission before I have to continue see your face in the meeting for the next three hours.” 

Renjun makes the motion to reach across the table and strangle Jaemin. “_Rude_. Also, you should be more thankful to the person helping you keep Na Holdings safe.” 

“I pay you a really good salary to do that.” 

“I deserve higher pay to deal with your nonsense and extra stress you cause me.” Renjun rolls his eyes and gets up. “See you later.” 

Jaemin hums in acknowledgement and waves him out. 

——✩——

Jaemin isn’t sure what he should be expecting when he is drawn out of his room at two in the morning by noises outside his bedroom. All the lights are switched off so it’s dark, save for a bit of illumination coming in from the windows. There’s a persistent rustling noise, and Jaemin locates a hunched over figure dressed in black from top to toe near the shelf just outside the kitchen. It makes no sense for a potential thief to be going through that because there’s nothing valuable there, it’s all Jisung’s snacks— 

“Jisung?” 

The figure startles with a jump and turns around, revealing a surprised face partially obscured by a hood drawn tightly over his head. Hand over his heart, he takes in a deep breath to regain his bearings, then blurt out, “Sorry, did I make too much noise?” 

Jaemin shakes his head and switches on the lights. “No, I just finished some work actually.” 

“Oh.” 

They stand awkwardly in the living room for a bit until Jaemin notices Jisung holding onto a pack of chips he should definitely not be eating yet, even though it’s been a couple of days since the ice cream poisoning incident. Jisung realises Jaemin is staring at the snack in his hands and tries to hide it behind him. The older man scoffs with a roll of his eyes. “I already saw it, no use hiding it. Put it back, you’re not supposed to be eating any of those things for at least a week.” 

The corners of Jisung’s lips visibly pull down as he sullenly puts the chips back onto the shelves. Jaemin watches with amusement. 

“Are you hungry?” 

Jisung glances up briefly and nods. Jaemin smiles, and the younger boy almost thinks he’s mistaken because he’s never seen the older man smile like that. 

“That’s good, if your appetite is returning, that means you’re recovering well,” Jaemin comments as he goes into their kitchen and checks the fridge. There’s no leftovers to heat up, but a brief eyeball of the available ingredients gives him an idea. “Hey kid, what do you think of making dumplings?” 

“Dumplings?” Jisung echoes. “I’ve eaten them, but making them…” He trails off and brings his hands up. “The only work you can trust these with are using a computer.” 

Jaemin laughs at his statement as he pulls things out of the fridge. “Don’t worry, there isn’t a lot to do. The filling is already done, we just need to wrap them.” 

Jisung cocks his head to the side curiously. “When did you make it?” 

“Hmm? These? I didn’t make them. I commented off-handedly at your house last weekend that the dumplings tasted good, then your housekeeper stuffed a container of the filling to me before we left. She said you liked them too, and used to help her wrap them as a kid.” 

Jisung stares at the ingredients laid out and purses his lips. “Well, what she didn’t say was that mine were always the ugliest of the lot.” 

Jaemin laughs aloud and nudges him to go wash his hands. “It’s not that hard, plus almost everything is ready made. I’ll show you how to do it.” 

The younger boy watches as Jaemin ladles a spoonful of filling into a wrapper, wet the edges with a swipe of his finger and folds it, squeezing the air out. He pleats the edges neatly and holds it up. “_Tah-dah_. Try it.” Jisung narrows his eyes at the wrapper in his own hand. He emulates the steps Jaemin has gone through, but when he gets to pleating the edges, he pulls on it a little too hard and tugs off a piece of the dough. He stares at it, dumbfounded, while Jaemin snorts in amusement. “_Huh_. It looks like a _ food stealing rat _ bit off a mouthful of it. Are you very hungry?” 

Jisung grimaces at the insinuation. “I am not a food stealing _ rat_.” 

“Sure,” Jaemin replies patronisingly, getting on with wrapping the dumplings. Out of childish spite, Jisung throws his dumpling into the ones Jaemin has made, and breaks one of them apart. Jaemin gasps, affronted. “You broke my dumpling!” 

Jisung’s head bows immediately, apology ready on his lips, but is instead met with a playful shove at his shoulder. Against his black hoodie, there are five finger-like shapes clearly marked out by the flour from the wrappers. “Y-you!” he blurts out, pointing an accusatory finger at Jaemin, who is grinning at what he has done. Jisung pouts, upset, as he swipes at the flour and presses a handprint onto Jaemin’s sleep shirt in return, though it’s much less obvious since his shirt is white. There’s another gasp from the older man anyway. 

“You _little_— You wanna fight?!” 

A wrapper is straight up flung into Jisung’s face. His jaw drops in shock as he picks it off his cheek. There’s prints of flour against the outside of his glasses too. “You’re so mean!” he exclaims and throws it back to hit Jaemin in the neck. The flour dusted on it flies off and saturates the air, sending him into a coughing fit. 

The fight ceases as soon as it starts when they realise the mess it is going to make. 

“Truce, truce! I don’t want to have to clean the whole place up later,” Jaemin surrenders, raising both arms. Jisung agrees easily, washing off his glasses and they get back to wrapping the dumplings. The rest of it goes smoothly, even the ones wrapped by Jisung, albeit with uneven pleats. 

As they wait for the dumplings to cook, Jaemin pipes up. “Have you ever thought of learning how to cook?” 

Jisung eyes him incredulously and pushes up his glasses. “Haven’t you tried my disaster of an omelette already?” 

“Ah…” Jaemin nods. 

The timer rings and Jaemin opens the steamer to get the dumplings out. They settle at the dining table and Jisung picks one of his unevenly-pleated dumplings, taking a small bite out of it. 

“What if I teach you how to cook then?”

Jisung makes a noise of confusion at the back of his throat as he chews. 

“Like, we can try ten basic, really easy things. Or else you’ll never be able to survive on your own in future,” Jaemin states, blowing at a dumpling to cool it. 

Jisung blinks at him helplessly. “Ten things? Are you trying to get me burn the kitchen down so we can make a claim on the home insurance or something?” 

“Hmm, not a bad idea. Something else we can get out of the marriage, no? We can go fifty-fifty on the payout,” Jaemin hums in agreement. Jisung can’t help the little smile hearing him go along with his joke. “Maybe not ten things then, seems like a lot. Five?” 

Jisung looks straight into his eyes, perplexed. “You’re serious about teaching me how to cook?” 

Jaemin nods. “Yeah. Not the burning the kitchen part though.” 

“Oh.” Jisung distracts himself with his food. He can feel his face warming up, though he’s not sure why. 

“Is there anything in particular you’ve wanted to learn how to make?” 

Jisung’s cheeks puff up as he thinks. “Potato pancakes?” 

Jaemin pretends to sigh exasperatedly. “Why am I not surprised, you really like snacks better than actual meals, don’t you?” 

The younger boy smiles sheepishly and nods. 

The rest of the dumplings are finished rather quietly, and for the first time, it’s not uncomfortable. Jaemin eyes his hand print on Jisung’s hoodie and chuckles to himself. Jisung scowls when he notices what Jaemin is looking at. 

“Put it into the laundry, I’ll wash it before we visit your grandfather’s tomorrow— later today. It’s four a.m. already, my goodness! Time to wash everything and go sleep,” Jaemin says, ushering Jisung to move along. 

——✩——

Jaemin thinks that weekly dinners at the Parks’ will always be an odd mix of solemn and somber as everyone settles at the too large dining table. Everyone is always quiet until Grandfather Park speaks up, and even then, the conversations are either about the economy or the society. It’s honestly a wonder how Jisung turned out to be the carefree, writing and literature loving kid that he is. He spares a glance at his mother-in-law, who offers him a polite smile as she sips at her soup. He returns the smile and thinks about how close Jisung is to her, wondering if perhaps it is her influence. To his side, Jisung eats quietly as he listens in to the conversation between his grandfather and Jaemin, with comments from his father every now and then. Dinner eventually ends when Grandfather Park asks Jaemin to follow him to his study to discuss a partnership between the two companies, while Jisung is tugged along by his mother for a chat in their lounge. 

“Time passes really fast, doesn’t it?” Mrs. Park sighs, pulling her son’s hands into her own. “Who would have known things would turn out this way, and with a blink of an eye, it’s been a year already.” 

“It’s been a year?” Jisung sits up a little straighter. “I didn’t even realise…” 

Mrs. Park caresses her son’s palms gently as she speaks. “It’s been a year and I still feel just as sad thinking about how I married you off to someone you barely know. Has he been treating you well, at least?” 

Jisung nods. 

“Are you sure?” 

“It’s just like that,” Jisung states with a shrug. “I told you before, it’s like living with a housemate. It’s not like we’re actually in a relationship. Maybe friends…? But he’s a little too much older for me to call him my friend.” He pauses and thinks about Jaemin making food for him while he was sick, telling him to call him _ hyung_. “I guess… He’s like an older brother figure?” 

Mrs. Park nods in understanding. “As long as he’s not mistreating you. Just know that mom will always stand by your side no matter what happens, okay? If he bullies you, tell me. I will make sure he experiences ten-fold of whatever he dares to do to you.” 

Jisung breaks out into a giggle and hugs his mother. “Thank you, mom. Don’t worry too much about me, I can take care of myself too.” 

“Silly boy,” she sighs and pets his back. “Mom will always worry about you. You and your sister, both.” 

Conversation goes into how his sister is doing, and Mrs. Park shares photos she’s received from her daughter, out and about her new apartment, together with her boyfriend. Jisung notes that they look really sweet together, and she even tacks on a message below that “He is the person I like the most in the world.” Jisung wonders aloud if he would ever get the chance to be like that. His mother becomes sad at that, and he hurries to joke that he’s just thinking out loud. “But who knows, maybe one day Jaemin hyung and I will have a great big fight and realise we can’t even live in the same house, and we’d get a divorce, then maybe I can go find someone I like as much as noona likes her boyfriend.” He eyes his mother cautiously, gauging her reaction. 

Mrs. Park stills at his words, worry etched into her forehead. “If your Grandfather hears that you’re even entertaining the thought of divorce, he is going to raise hell. You know how much he cares about the Park family reputation.” She sighs. “But if it is what it comes to, I will stand by my words, okay? Mom will always support you.” 

Jisung purses his lips and nods, giving his mother one last hug. _ It’s okay, there’s another year more to go. Things can still change, right? _

Jaemin notices that Jisung is distracted, constantly staring out of the car window, fingers fidgeting with the hem of his wool sweater on the way back to their apartment. 

“Penny for your thoughts?” 

Jisung is broken out of his reverie, looking down at his sweater and realising he’s snagged a thread. 

“Nothing.” 

Jaemin hums in response, unconvinced. They pull into the car park, but Jisung realises the doors are still locked when he tries to get down. He turns back to look at Jaemin questioningly, moving to unlock his side of the door himself when the older man tugs him back into his seat. 

“You’ve been distracted since we left your grandfather’s. What’s wrong?” 

He watches the younger boy’s lips move, then purse together. Jisung shrugs. Jaemin sighs. “Didn’t we say we’d try this thing together? You can’t just keep quiet like that every time something goes wrong. We have two years to spend living together, you know.” 

“One year,” Jisung corrects, pulling at the loose thread of his sweater. “One more year.” 

“It’s been one year already?” 

Jisung nods. “I didn’t notice either, until mom brought it up. I thought, one more year, and then we’d get a divorce, this will become something to simply put behind all of us. But mom also reminded me that it’s not going to be this easy. Even though you said you’ll take all the blame, grandfather will still get angry over it. And what with how you are discussing a possible partnership between our two companies now…” 

Jaemin sighs and rubs a hand over his face. “That complicates things, doesn’t it?” Jisung lowers his head further and keeps mum, locking his fingers together. 

“I don’t know what to say, honestly,” Jaemin admits. “Just… There’s still one year to go, right? Things might change, I don’t know. I can’t make any promises, except that we’ll find a way when the time comes. It’s still too early to say anything for sure.” 

Jisung nods along quietly. “I thought so too. A lot can change in a year.” 

“Well, at least we’re both aligned on that,” Jaemin states with a wry smile. “Let’s just take things as they come, yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Jisung agrees, returning the small smile. “Yeah, let’s.” 

——✩——

The first thing they get to cooking together is not potato pancakes.

“But didn’t I say I want to learn how to make potato pancakes?” Jisung questions with a whine, prodding at the tub of red pepper paste on the counter. There are other ingredients set out to make kimchi jjigae, which he doesn’t mind eating, but he just would much rather be making and eating potato pancakes. 

Jaemin tuts at him while chopping scallions. “We have to start from the staples. What kind of Korean are you if you don’t know how to put together a kimchi jjigae?” 

Jisung’s head droops as he pouts, turning his attention to poke the tofu instead. Jaemin notices and lightly slaps at his hand. “I asked you to cut it into cubes, not poke holes into it.” 

“Hmph.” Jisung intonates under his breath, moving sluggishly to take a knife and get to work. 

“Hmm? You have a problem with that?” Jaemin asks, raising a brow questioningly. 

“No,” Jisung replies and ducks his head. He does his job as Jaemin instructs, but instead of cubes, he halves them further diagonally into triangles. _ You want cubes? Too bad, they’re no longer cubes. _ He pushes them close together so it’s not obvious what he’s done. He then watches intently as Jaemin shows him the steps of stir-frying everything, pours water into the pot and reducing the heat to a slow simmer. 

The tofu goes last, and that’s when Jaemin notices the odd shapes. He sucks in a deep breath when he sees the supposed cubes fall apart into triangular pieces in the stew. 

“You little…” 

Jisung is chewing on his lips to stop himself from laughing, but the bright eyes full of mischief peeking from beneath his fringe are a dead giveaway of the utter lack of remorse at what he has done. Jaemin sighs as he stirs the stew gently for a while more, adding the scallions before switching the stove off and serving it.

“How’s it?” Jaemin asks as Jisung sips at a spoonful of the spicy broth. 

“Mm!” Jisung’s eyes light up as he smiles, giving Jaemin a thumbs up. “It’s good!” 

“Would have been better if we had properly cubed tofu,” Jaemin remarks with no actual bite to his words. Jisung grins and occupies himself with a mouthful of rice. 

——✩——

“You’re still up?” 

Jisung turns and gives Jaemin a nod. “Was finishing up an assignment, going to sleep soon.”

It’s approaching one in the morning on a weekday night, and they’re both in the kitchen. Jisung is getting a glass of water while Jaemin reaches for the cabinet where their instant coffee is stored. Jisung wrinkles his nose at the scent of it as Jaemin pours the sachet and hot water into his mug. 

“That’s going to be your second cup of coffee tonight, isn’t it?” he asks. “It looks horrible.”

Jaemin stirs his drink absent-mindedly. “Third, actually.” 

“What! Why are you drinking so much of it for?” 

“I have work to do, kid. Don’t you drink it too when it’s hell week at school? Espressos were practically my best friend while I was in university.” 

Jisung shakes his head. “I like iced chocolates better. Caffeine gives me a headache, the sugar helps more. Plus, life is hard enough already, I’d rather drink something sweet.”

Jaemin chuckles. “So it’s a toss up between getting a heart attack or Type II diabetes. I’d rather a heart attack, it’s a fast death.” He’s about to take a sip of his coffee when Jisung reaches out and empties it into the sink. “Kid—” 

“No work is worth killing yourself with coffee over it,” Jisung states. Jaemin sighs and runs his fingers through his hair. “Well, the work in question here is an important partnership with your grandfather. I have to make sure everything is in order, scrutinise every little detail.” 

It grows quiet as Jisung purses his lips together in thought. Jaemin is about to take a second sachet and make another cup of coffee when he speaks up softly. 

“You don’t have to work this hard when it comes to grandfather.” 

“Hmm? What do you mean?” 

“Grandfather likes you. He always talks to you more than any of us when we go to his place every weekend for dinner. You can answer all the questions he throws out about the current state of the economy and whatnot. Sometimes, you feel more like his biological grandson than I do. You’re probably the kind of grandson he wished I was,” Jisung muses, fingers running down the sides of the glass in his hand. “So you don’t have to work this hard. I’m sure he’ll accept any proposal you make to him.” 

The corner of Jaemin’s lips curl up and he reaches over to pat the younger boy’s head gently. “Silly, if that’s the case, shouldn’t he like you a lot more and be thankful for you that I’m his grandson-in-law?” 

Jisung feels his cheeks warm up, but disagrees. “It doesn’t work that way,” he grouses softly. He moves away from Jaemin’s hand to dig through their kitchen cabinet, before pulling out a box of tea. “Don’t kill yourself working with the old man— _ Oh_.” 

“Hmm?” 

“Maybe that’s why you’re on the same wavelength as grandfather, you’re both _ old men_,” Jisung quips with a twinkle of his eyes. Jaemin lets out a snort and flicks at his nose. “That’s _ hyung _ to you. And if I’m an old man, you should be respecting the elderly. Where are your manners, insolent brat?” 

Jisung rubs at his nose and pulls a frowny face. “Just take the tea, and don’t drink so much coffee, _ hyung._” 

“I’ll try, no promises,” Jaemin replies with a shrug. Jisung shoots him an unimpressed look. Jaemin gives in easily with a smile, tickled by his facial expression. “Fine, no more coffee at least for tonight.” 

“Good. I’m going to bed now, don’t sneak anymore coffee because there’s nobody around to call an ambulance for you if you get a heart attack.” 

“Okay, okay. Go to bed already, little kids like you should be asleep at this time,” Jaemin laughs. “Thanks for the tea. And also the assurance.” 

Jisung smiles slightly. “It’s nothing. Goodnight, hyung.” 

“Goodnight, kid.” 

——✩——

The next thing Jaemin teaches Jisung to cook is potato pancakes. 

Jisung is enthusiastic for the most part because he can already imagine eating it. Most of it goes without a hitch from preparation to Jaemin making a perfect pancake in front of his eyes. He’s got to admit, he’s a little starry-eyed and in awe witnessing the older man flip the pancake and have it land nicely in the pan. What he doesn’t expect is for Jaemin to push the spatula into his hand and ask him to try it for himself. 

“You’re kidding, right?” 

Jaemin shakes his head. “You have to try make one yourself since you like eating it this much.” 

Jisung glances at the greased pan in uncertainty. “What if I cause a fire?” 

“Kid,” Jaemin rolls his eyes. “You would need some exceptional talent to set the kitchen on fire trying to make potato pancakes. Besides, I’m here, I’m not going to let that happen. And if it still happens, like I said, we can split the insurance payout.” 

Jisung cracks a smile at the joke. He takes a large inhale as he spreads the grated potato mixture on the pan, then holds the spatula at arm’s length as he flattens the pancake, prompting Jaemin to nudge him closer to the stove. “You’re really going to cause an actual accident if you do it like that. Stand closer, it’s not going to hurt you.” 

“It might not hurt me, but I might hurt it,” Jisung complains. 

Jaemin bursts out into laughter. “Are you even hearing what you’re saying? I think you can try flipping it now.” 

Jisung stares at the pancake in horror. “I can’t flip it. I can’t do it.” 

“You can, just do it, don’t overthink it.” 

“No no no, I can’t!” 

“Just wedge the spatula down the side and—”

“It’s going to fall out of the pan and touch the fire and burn and set everything else on fire!” 

“No it’s not! Just slowly—”

“Hyung! Please! I can’t do it, oh my god, it’s going to burn, isn’t it? It’s going to burn!”

“Okay, okay,” Jaemin tries to calm him down. “It’s not going to burn that easily, yeah?” He takes hold of Jisung’s hands from behind and guides him to flick his wrist just enough to flip the pancake, other hand steadying the pan to let it land back perfectly, uncooked side sizzling as it comes into contact with the hot metal surface. 

“See, it’s not burnt yet, it’s a nice crispy brown,” Jaemin remarks as he takes a step back. “That wasn’t too hard, was it?” 

Jisung has frozen up, only managing to nod slightly. He can still feel the warmth of Jaemin’s chest pressed against his back, and feels the heat creep up his neck, cheeks, even his ears. 

He burns the other side of the pancake. 

——✩——

A new laundry-related trouble soon arises, not because Jisung has misused the washing machine in any way again, but rather, there seems to be lesser and lesser hangers in the drying area. Jaemin notices that every few cycles of laundry done, one or two of them seem to go missing. He didn’t notice it before, but now that there’s a good number missing and not enough to hang the clothes to dry, he’s curious where they’ve gone. He asks the only other occupant of the house when he sees Jisung walking by the living room. 

“Hey kid, is it me or are we missing some hangers in the laundry area?” 

“Oh, I took them,” Jisung answers. “Do you need them?” 

Jaemin shakes his head. “Why do you suddenly need so many hangers for though? I haven’t seen you buy new clothes.” 

“To hang all my clothes up,” the younger boy replies like it’s the most apparent thing to do, pushing his glasses up as he speaks. 

Jaemin frowns. “_All_ your clothes?” 

“_All_ of them.” Jisung nods. 

“Even your wool sweaters? Wouldn’t they go out of shape from hanging? And you have a ton of them!” 

Jisung’s jaw drops slightly as his mouth forms an o-shape. “Oh… Is that why…?”

“You didn’t know that?” Jaemin rubs a hand over his face. “Wait, kid, do you not know how to fold your clothes?” 

The silence from Jisung is jarring. 

Jaemin shoves one of the freshly washed sweaters at him. Jisung looks down at it in his hands, pursing his lips. He sneaks a glance at Jaemin, who is waiting for him to start folding it. He takes a deep breath, as if faced with the most daunting challenge ever. With as much confidence as he can muster, he holds it up, folds it lengthwise, then into quarters, and tuck the sleeves under crudely. He eyes the bundle in his arms and slips a quick look at Jaemin’s facial expression. 

Jaemin closes his eyes and takes a very long inhale. “How’s this any different from balling it up and throwing it into your closet?” 

Jisung looks down sheepishly and rubs at the back of his neck. 

“How do you not know how to fold clothes? You can’t fit everything in your closet balled up like this,” Jaemin questions. 

“That’s why I just hang everything up...” Jisung grumbles softly. 

Jaemin buries his face into his hands. “Jisung-ah,” he sighs. Jisung winces at the sound of his name; he didn’t even know that much disappointment could be packed into three syllables. “How have you lived for so long with so little basic day-to-day skills, hmm? I know I always call you _ kid_, but this— you’re no different from a newborn _ baby_.” 

The younger boy bows his head down and his lips push out into an upset pout as he pinches the material of his balled up sweater. “I’m sorry.” 

“You’re doing that thing again.” 

“Huh?” Jisung looks up in mild confusion. 

“The thing where you apologise when you’ve done nothing wrong. Why do you do that?”

“I… I don’t know.” 

“Then don’t say sorry so easily just like that,” Jaemin chastises him softly as he pinches the younger boy’s cheek. “If you behave like a pushover, you’ll get bullied easily out there. See, you’re not even doing anything when I’m holding your cheek hostage.”

Jisung pushes Jaemin’s hand away from his face, corner of his lips pulling down even more. “Isn’t it better if I say sorry first, especially if I’m at fault?” he mumbles quietly. 

“But how are you at fault now? You can fight back, no? Say something like—” Jaemin clears his throat and tries to give his best imitation of Jisung’s voice “—_ I’m the grandson of Park Industries, why are you expecting me to fold clothes? Hmph._” 

“I don’t sound like that,” Jisung complains, but he’s cracking a smile. 

Jaemin pretends to roll his eyes. “Have you heard yourself when you get cheeky with me? Especially when you call me _ old man_?” 

“That’s different,” Jisung huffs, feeling his cheeks warm up. 

“Yeah? How is it any different?” Jaemin challenges. “But my point is, you don’t always have to be so quick to say sorry. Sometimes you can stand up for yourself and fight back too, okay?”

Jisung glances doubtfully at him. “What if it gets me into trouble?” 

“Where’s this train of thought whenever you say I’m old?” Jaemin snorts. 

“I-I’m sorry.” 

“Again! With the sorry! What did I just say? Don’t. Be. So. Quick. To. Apologise. Tell me, what mistake are you owning up to that you didn’t make?” 

“I…” 

“You didn’t do or say anything wrong, right? So stop apologising.” 

“Does that mean…” Jisung asks hesitantly, gaze meeting Jaemin’s, who encourages him to go on. “So I am not wrong in calling you an old man?” 

Jaemin stares at him, mouth slightly agape, in disbelief at how the younger boy has turned his words against him. The silence drags on for too long and the gleam in Jisung’s eyes dim, another apology ready at his lips. Before he can speak it aloud, Jaemin glares at him and grabs hold of both sides of his face, tugging at his cheeks. 

“Don’t say it, I’m warning you.” 

Jisung shuts his mouth, pressing his lips into a thin line, brows knitting together in a frown. Jaemin lets go of his face at that. 

“You’re seriously too much… You insolent little brat, I can’t even say no because it would invalidate all the wise sayings I’ve been trying to impart to you for the past ten minutes. You really...” 

Light returns into Jisung’s eyes as he blinks in faux innocence, nose scrunching in his attempts to keep himself from smiling. Jaemin grimaces and flicks at the tip of his nose. 

“Ow!” 

“That’s to teach you a lesson for being a smartmouthed brat. But do that more, talk back when you should. Don’t indiscriminately apologise, understood?” 

Jisung nods. “I… I’ll try.” 

“Good. Also, put back all the hangers in the laundry area. You’re learning how to fold your clothes by hook or by crook tonight.” 

Jisung makes a sad, pained expression. “Okay…” 

——✩——

In addition to folding clothes, Jisung also finally learns how to properly make rolled omelettes. It took a mini standoff between Jisung and the stove, lots of encouragement from Jaemin to overcome the perpetual fear of setting fire to the kitchen and more than just one or two eggs, but it worked out in the end. The final one he managed to make all by himself looks as good as the ones Jaemin could casually make. There’s also a small mountain of rolled omelettes accumulated from the entire evening of egg frying and rolling, so naturally, Jaemin brings food into work again. 

“Rolled eggs?” Renjun questions, peering at the lunch box on Jaemin’s desk. 

“Oh, yeah. Jisung made them,” Jaemin replies nonchalantly. “I’ve been trying to teach him how to cook, so we made a ton of it together last night.” 

Renjun raises a brow at his friend. “That sounds… Awfully domestic to me.” 

“How so?” 

Renjun looks pointedly at him. 

“Whatever, think whatever you want.” Jaemin waves him off. “Wanna try some? It’s pretty good.” He hands Renjun the chopsticks in his hands. Renjun hesitantly picks one up and pops it into his mouth. 

“It’s good, isn’t it? This is eons better than when he tried the first time, I’m a good teacher,” Jaemin states smugly. 

Renjun chews and nods along. “Not too bad. How long did it take to make these?” 

“A couple of hours and a whole carton of eggs.” 

“_Huh_.” 

Jaemin glances at his colleague. “What?” 

“You’ve developed a soft spot for him, haven’t you? The Jaemin I know would have thrown a fit at the food and time wastage experimenting in the kitchen,” Renjun comments as he steals another piece. 

Jaemin looks up and blinks once. Twice. Thrice. 

He doesn’t answer, just stuff himself with more food. 

——✩——

Jaemin’s teaching Jisung how to make japchae when they receive a frantic call from Jisung’s mom. Grandfather Park apparently had a fall at home and everybody was on the way to the hospital. 

They meet Jisung’s parents at the accident and emergency department, waiting worriedly for the doctor to finish examining Grandfather Park. The doctor soon emerges and gives them a brief rundown of the elderly man’s injury. It’s a mild fracture to his leg, but he also points out that they noticed he is severely overdue for a health checkup and has scheduled him for one, which may reveal a thing or two about the sudden fall. They thank the doctor and shuffle to go see Grandfather Park. 

“I thought I might see Jihyun, but I guess not,” Grandfather Park quips at the sight of his family. 

“Do you want me to ask her to come back?” Mr. Park asks, raising his phone. Grandfather Park waves him away. “Forget it. It’s just a small fall, I’m not dead. I don’t need the whole family gathered, we’re not reading my will.”

Mr. Park nods grimly and changes the subject. “The doctor recommended you stay overnight and do a full check up tomorrow, just in case.” 

“What for?” The elderly man moves to sit up, and Jisung helps prop the pillow up behind him. “Don’t create such an unnecessary ruckus. My leg will heal even if I’m at home. I want to be discharged this instance.” 

“But Father, you’ve also been saying you feel dizzy and out of breath often lately. It would be better for you to do a check up,” Mrs. Park reminds him, worry evident on her face. 

“What do you expect, I can’t be healthy all the time, I’m an old man!” Grandfather Park states with a huff. 

Jisung sneaks a glance at Jaemin and cracks a slight smile. Jaemin notices and shoots him a non-threatening glare in return, lightly pinching the back of his hand. 

“You should be more careful with your health, grandfather. And since you are already in the hospital, it wouldn’t matter to run a few more tests,” Jaemin reasons. “Treat it as giving the doctors here some work to do while you take a short rest for your leg.” 

“See, at least Jaemin knows how to speak,” Grandfather Park gripes as he leans back. “You,” he gestures at his son, “Move all my meetings tomorrow to a day after.” Mr. Park nods quickly, glad to have gotten him agree to the hospital stay without too much work. “And you,” Grandfather Park pipes up again, chin jutting out in Jisung’s direction this time. “Did you walk around like that, with food stuck on your clothes?” 

Jisung looks down at his sweater and sure enough, there’s a small piece of carrot stuck to his side, not very visible at first glance. “Oh.” He picks it off and smiles sheepishly. “I don’t know how it got there.” 

Jaemin grins, because he _ knows _ how exactly it got there — they were having a playful scuffle in the kitchen over him commenting that Jisung was chopping up the vegetables in the most ugly manner possible, and a few slices have been thrown around. 

“Must have gotten there while we were making dinner,” Jaemin explains on his behalf. 

The Parks eye Jisung curiously, bewildered by the idea that he would step into the kitchen to prepare food. 

“You haven’t had dinner yet, then?” Mrs. Park asks, concerned. 

Grandfather Park interrupts before either of them can speak. “Go settle my admission and disperse, go off and do whatever you need to do; reschedule my meetings, set up however many check ups I’m supposed to go through, have your dinner, whatever. And remember to get me a room of my own.” 

They collectively nod and leave, with Mr. Park walking ahead to speak with the hospital staff to admit Grandfather Park. Jaemin tells Jisung to go wait in the lobby while he gets the car, bidding his goodbyes to his mother-in-law with a bow. 

“He does seem to be treating you well.” Mrs. Park heaves a sigh of relief, holding her son’s hand in hers. Jisung smiles and covers her hands with his own. “I told you, you don’t have to worry about me.” 

She smiles as well, eyes blinking with intrigue. “I’m curious though… How did he manage to get my son to step into the kitchen and cook, hmm?” 

Jisung ducks his head in embarrassment. “It just… It just happened, I don’t know.” 

She chuckles and pats his cheek gently. “Seems like you are getting along well with him. As long as you’re happy, mom will be happy too.” 

He ponders for a bit, cheeks warming up as he speaks, “I think I am.” 

——✩——

Grandfather Park ends up staying in the hospital for more than a day after the doctor suggests a more thorough check up, as he might have some health complications that have been going undetected. They visit him again later in the week, letting him discuss some work with Jaemin in between his screenings. Jisung busies himself with trying to peel a pear to the side.

“You should go ahead as scheduled and check out the place in Ulsan next week, continue move things along. There’s no need to wait around for me,” Grandfather Park comments as he reads over the papers Jaemin handed to him. “I won’t be able to walk around easily with my leg in a cast either. I tell you what, I’ll get the little punk’s father to go in my place.” He tilts his head slightly in Jisung’s direction and frowns at his grandson.

Jaemin agrees with a nod, glancing at Jisung as well, who is wielding the fruit knife in an awkward angle, fruit peel coming off in pieces rather than one long spiral. 

“You’re going to cut yourself like that.” Jaemin wraps his hand around the younger boy’s to stop his movements. He takes the knife out of Jisung’s hands and shows him how to properly peel the fruit. “See? Do it like this.” 

“Oh.” Jisung watches in awe as the peel comes off in one long piece. He cuts it into smaller pieces once Jaemin is done before handing it on a plate to his grandfather. The elderly man takes it with a harrumph. 

“You little punk,” he tuts. “You should spend some time learning from Jaemin, be more like Jaemin. You’ve been spoilt too much by your mother.” 

Jisung bows his head slightly, pout forming on his lips. As he reaches to tug at the material of his jacket, he feels Jaemin’s hand slip into his. He stares at their linked hands and casts a questioning glance at the older man. 

“Jisung is good at other things, grandfather. He’s doing quite well in school lately, too,” Jaemin states, speaking up for him with a smile. 

“As he should be,” Grandfather Park grunts, biting into a slice of pear. “Especially since he chose what he wanted to do instead of what he should be doing.” 

“We can’t all be doing business, grandfather. It would get very boring,” Jaemin chuckles good-naturedly. “Besides, who knows if we might see the Park family produce a famous author in a few years?” Jisung offers him a grateful smile, and he squeezes the younger boy’s hand lightly in return. 

Grandfather Park waves them out after that, off to his next screening. 

“Thank you,” Jisung murmurs softly once they leave, still staring at their linked hands. Jaemin quickly lets go when he notices. 

“Uh, no problem, and um, sorry for that,” Jaemin apologises awkwardly. He balls his fist up behind him, as if doing so could retain the residual warmth from holding Jisung’s hand. 

Jisung smiles, then quips cheekily, “Has hanging around me made you pick up the habit of apologising for no good reason?” 

Jaemin blinks in confusion, then breaks out into a grin when he realises what he’s talking about. “Where was this smartmouthed brat just now, hmm?” He ruffles Jisung’s hair as he speaks. 

“I can’t answer grandfather like that… He would disown me, and then adopt you in my place. Don’t you see how biased he is towards you?” Jisung laments with a dramatic sigh. 

Jaemin chuckles, “You would still be related to him if he does that, just as his grandson-in-law.” 

“He would probably tell you to divorce me then, and matchmake you with another chaebol family’s grandchild,” Jisung retorts. 

Both their smiles dim a little at that. 

“That would… simplify a lot of things, huh?” Jisung adds on after a while. 

Jaemin exhales heavily. “Let’s not think about that, it’s not like it’s going to happen.” 

“Mm, yeah,” Jisung mumbles in agreement. “So, when are you leaving for Ulsan? And when will you come back?” 

“I’ll be gone from next Tuesday to Friday. Why, are you going to miss me?” Jaemin jokes. 

A grin makes its way back onto Jisung’s face again. “Yeah, I’m going to miss having someone feed me and help me fold my clothes.” 

“You little… What are you, a baby who can’t take care of himself? And what do you treat me as, your housekeeper? Your cook?” Jaemin complains. “I’m working hard enough being the breadwinner of this family, yet you still treat me as such.” 

Jisung laughs at his tirade, eyes crinkling in amusement. “Save it, I don’t even take a cent from you. I still get my allowance from the other old man in there.” 

“Hey watch your words, you insolent brat. What do you mean _ other _ old man?” 

“Take it in whatever manner you think it means,” Jisung replies, mirth obvious in his voice. 

——✩——

When Jaemin unpacks in his hotel room in Ulsan, he discovers a box in his luggage that was definitely not put in by him. Curious, he opens it to find several snacks, sachets of his favourite coffee and a pack of gummies Jisung has gotten him into eating lately. He rifles through the things to find a small note written in an ugly chicken scratch that takes him a while to decipher the words, which read, “All the best on the work trip, hyung!”, along with a smiley face. He smiles at the awfully sweet gesture, snapping a photo of the items and sending it to Jisung with the caption, “Didn’t think I would have a stowaway package with me on the trip. Thanks, kid.” 

Jisung receives the message as he’s letting his ramen steep in hot water at the convenience store. He grins when he sees it, replying a quick “You’re welcome, old man.” 

“Your husband?” Donghyuck asks, sliding into the seat across from him. 

Jisung nods, still smiling. 

“Seems like things are going very well between the two of you,” Donghyuck comments with a knowing glint in his eyes. 

“Hmm… Yeah, I guess so,” Jisung hums, stirring his noodles around. 

Donghyuck rolls his eyes. “Don’t act like you’re all indifferent about your relationship in front of me. Look at how much you’re smiling just receiving a text from him.” 

Jisung flushes at that, but tries to pretend it’s because of the heat from his food. “I’m just happy to be eating junk food while he’s gone.” 

“Oh _puh-lease_,” Donghyuck snorts with a laugh. “Is this a thing between you two? Pretending to be unconcerned about each other? He came here last week and bought _ all _ your favourite snacks in twos or more. I didn’t even ask him who or what he was buying the ton of food for but he was stumbling through his excuses, awkwardly telling me it’s for his business trip.” He stares at Jisung dead in the eye. “Nobody buys three packs of gummy bears for a work trip.” 

Jisung laughs, cheeks feeling even warmer than before as he thinks of his refilled snack shelf, and how one of the packs of gummies is in the little snack box he stashed into Jaemin’s luggage. 

“To be fair, there is _ one _ pack of gummy bears in his luggage.” Jisung shrugs. 

Donghyuck narrows his eyes at the boy across from him, folding his arms. “You put it in there, didn’t you? Probably together with some kind of care package with a handwritten note, right?” 

Jisung almost drops his chopsticks in shock. “What? How… How did you know?” 

“Ugh,” Donghyuck groans in mock distaste. “You’re one of those sickeningly sweet couples.” 

_ Couple? _ Jisung panics as he thinks, eyebrows knitting together. 

“It’s okay, don’t be shy. There’s nothing wrong with being happily in love. It’s just that my single ass can’t stand it. But I’m glad to see that you guys resolved things and are happy together now. It’s cute.” 

_ Happily in love_? Jisung wonders. Does he like Jaemin in that manner? 

A tingle runs down his spine and he’s not sure what to make of it. 

Jaemin feels everyday spent in Ulsan isn’t too bad at all despite it being a work trip. Drinking his favourite coffee and remembering its from the care package Jisung packed for him puts him in a good mood for the rest of the day, and he breezes through the long meetings and contract signing easily. Renjun wishes he could share the same enthusiasm. 

“Can’t believe there’s still one more day to go,” Renjun complains. It’s been a long day, and it’s almost midnight. They’re in Jaemin’s room, running through the materials for the last day’s meetings. “I miss my bed so much and want to go home already. How are you still holding up like that, completely fine?” 

Jaemin shrugs and digs through his bag. He pulls out the opened pack of gummy bears and offers one to his co-worker. Renjun peers at the packaging and rejects it. “Isn’t this for children?” 

“Jisung packed it in for me,” Jaemin states nonchalantly, popping one into his mouth before chewing, making happy humming noises. 

Renjun squints at him. “He packed your luggage for you?” 

“No, of course not. He just stuffed a box of snacks into my luggage without me knowing. The gummies came along with it. And they’re really good, by the way, never mind the fact it’s for kids,” Jaemin replies, noting the cartoon bear printed on the package. 

“Right…” Renjun stares at his friend, unsure what to make of the situation. “Anyway, I’m going back to my room to get some sleep. See you in the morning.” 

“See ya.” 

Renjun frowns at Jaemin’s closed door for a while before trudging to his room. 

After concluding all the meetings in Ulsan, they finally head to the airport for the flight back to Seoul. As they wait for boarding time, Jaemin spots Jisung’s father looking at keychains in a souvenir shop. 

“Are you getting something for mother-in-law?” Jaemin asks with a smile. 

Mr. Park looks up and shakes his head. “Oh, no,” he chuckles. “I’m not sure she’ll appreciate a small soft toy on a hook like these from me.” He picks through the keychains, and holds one of a baby hamster plush up. “This looks like one of the stuffed toys Jisung used to have.” 

Jaemin looks at it and grins. “It honestly looks a bit like him too. When he’s eating and his cheeks lift up, he looks like that.” 

His father-in-law glances at him carefully, then smiles. “You know, I was always worried that Jihyun was supposed to marry you. When it became Jisung, the worries doubled, maybe even tripled. But seeing you get along well with Jisung…” He pats Jaemin on the back. “A lot of my worries seem unfounded now.” 

Jaemin bows his head a little as he feels a comforting warmth bloom in his chest. “It’s honestly not hard to get along with Jisung.” 

Mr. Park chuckles. “I know my son, and I know my wife too; she spoils our children a lot. Honestly, I am still quite impressed by the fact you got Jisung to get into the kitchen and prepare food. The last time he did that was probably when he was six or seven years old, doing it more to play than to help out.” 

“Then I guess it’s a good thing he’s actually learnt how to make some simple dishes now,” Jaemin says with a smile. 

“Does he now?” Mr. Park asks, delight obvious in his voice. He sighs in a satisfied manner. “You’re good for him, Jaemin. Thank you for taking care of him.” 

“Not at all, I don’t think I’ve done much,” Jaemin responds humbly. He thinks about the finished snack box and the remaining two gummy bears still in the package he can’t bear to eat yet. “And in his own ways, he takes care of me too.” 

Mr. Park laughs. “Take care of you? I’ll be glad to hear he can take care of himself.” 

The overhead announcement system informs them that their boarding gate is open. Mr. Park gestures in the direction of their gate, but Jaemin pauses and takes another look at the baby hamster keychain. 

“You can go ahead first, Father. I’ll be right there.” 

“Thought you’d never come and we’d have to book the next flight back,” Renjun grumbles, locking the screen of his phone when he sees Jaemin approaching him at their departure gate. “What took you so long?” 

Jaemin holds up the keychain of the baby hamster plush with a smile. “Was talking to my father-in-law and chanced upon this. It looks like Jisung, so I got it for him.” 

Renjun stares at the palm-sized stuffed toy, then glances at his friend, frowning. Jaemin nudges him to board their flight. 

Once settled in their seats, Renjun cannot find it in him to hold back his questions any more. 

“‘Fess up, what’s your relationship with the kid?” he asks quietly, careful not to let Mr. Park overhear.

“What?” Jaemin asks, confused. 

“First you make a deal with him to teach him how to cook and bring the food he makes to work, then you come on a business trip and he packs you little snacks secretly, and now you’re buying stupidly expensive crap from airport shops as a souvenir for him— Are you guys dating?” 

“Um… Huh, what?” Jaemin intonates dazedly. 

Renjun leans his head on his arm, fretting. “Wait that makes no sense, because you two are married.” 

“Uhhh…” 

“What _ exactly _ is your relationship, Jaemin?” 

Jaemin swallows nervously. “I… don’t know?” 

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Renjun frowns even more, brows knitting together and lips pressed into a thin line. 

“I… We… We never really talked about this? We just kind of live with each other? And we just got closer, naturally,” Jaemin says, scratching the back of his head awkwardly. 

Renjun narrows his eyes at him. “_Housemates_ live with each other too, but they don’t cook together so much they bring food into work. They also don’t pack each other care packages when they go on short work trips, nor do they buy expensively dumb cute souvenirs for each other.” 

Jaemin lapses into silence. The plane takes off, and he still hasn’t put together a reply to Renjun’s words. When it is thirty minutes in the air, and Renjun thinks the conversation is over, he suddenly prods his seatmate. 

“I think… We’re just very friendly housemates that happen to be married?” 

Renjun rolls his eyes and exhales heavily in a soft snort. “Why don’t you just tell me you guys simply so happen to be extremely _ friendly _ with each other; there’s no rhyme or reason, just two individuals living together, enjoying doing _ friendly _ things for each other because it’s a _ friendly _ thing to do.” 

“Is that wrong though? We’re both just being nice…?” 

Renjun sighs. “Well then, do you like it?” 

“What do you mean _ do I like it_?” 

“Do you like it, when he’s being nice to you? Do you like being nice to him?” 

Jaemin stares at him like he’s grown three heads. “What kind of question is that? Of course you like people being nice to you, don’t you? And you should be nice to people who are nice to you, no?” 

“That’s new, coming from a person who used to never believe people can be nice. You’re the one who goes around telling everyone that even family doesn’t have to be nice to one another,” Renjun remarks. 

This time, Jaemin doesn’t have a response, not even until the plane touches down and Renjun waves him a _bye and_ _see you in office next Monday_.

——✩——

Jisung looks at the baby hamster keychain funny when Jaemin hands it to him, squishing it as he sizes it up carefully. 

“It’s so small but its eyes are bigger than mine.”

Jaemin pulls a straight face and nods. “Mm, yeah, I agree. It looks almost like you, especially the cheeks. But maybe not the eyes.” 

Jisung throws him a glare. “Excuse me?” 

Jaemin bursts out laughing and ruffles his hair. “The resemblance is really uncanny, though.” He pulls the hand holding the keychain up by the wrist and puts it next to Jisung’s face. “It’s a mini-you.” 

Jisung blushes with the too close scrutiny, ducking his head a little and averting his gaze. 

He hangs the keychain on his bag, prodding and squishing it every now and then while he’s in class. He also recalls, each time, how closely Jaemin was looking at him when gifting it to him, feeling warm and tingly all over. 

He’s prodding at the hamster again when he sits outside a bar, cheeks a ruddy red from drinking all evening with some group projectmates who insisted on celebrating the submission of their assignment. They’re not too bad a bunch of schoolmates, so he can’t find it in him to say no. Now that he’s more than a little tipsy, tired out but unsure of how to get home, he half-reluctantly calls Jaemin for help. 

Honestly, Jaemin is a little miffed when he gets the call. It’s past midnight and the thought of Jisung being out there in the cold has him grabbing a jacket and getting out of the door in an instant. He finds the younger boy curled up on a chair outside the bar quietly, hugging his bag and squishing the soft keychain absent-mindedly. He smiles a little at the cute sight, but it drops to a frown when he notices Jisung’s surroundings. Behind him, a couple of his friends are still waiting for their rides and he notes that they’re a lot more rowdier, one of them singing off-pitch loudly. 

Without saying a word, he pulls Jisung up and wraps him in the jacket. 

“Oh, you’re here,” Jisung mumbles with a soft, slightly fuddled smile, pliantly letting Jaemin adjust the jacket draped over him. 

One of the girls slings an arm over Jisung’s shoulders as she asks, “Jisung-ah, is he your boyfriend? Why does he look so cold and scary?” 

Jaemin clenches his jaw even more at that; damn intoxicated college students and their inability to filter their words; and _ why can’t she keep her hands to herself? _ Jisung notices his expression, neither confirms nor denies his classmate’s question, just says his semi-slurred goodbyes and lets Jaemin pull him away from her to the car. 

The car ride is mostly silent, and Jisung furtively glances at Jaemin every few seconds while clutching the keychain, cheeks seemingly getting warmer and redder. Once they get back to their apartment, Jaemin immediately shoves Jisung into the bathroom to wash up. He waits outside for half an hour, a glass of water set out for the younger boy, trying to collect his thoughts but sees no sight of him. Jaemin soon gets worried and knocks on the bathroom door. 

“Kid?” 

There’s no answer. 

“Jisung? Did you fall asleep inside there?” 

He tries the door and it’s not locked, slowly pushing it open. Jisung has showered and changed, but is sitting curled up atop the toilet, nodding off. Jaemin sighs fondly with a smile and tries to pull him up. Jisung whines slightly and tries to push him away. 

“Jisung-ah, come on, get up.” 

“Mmm… ‘Am tired.” 

“Yeah, so you should get to bed, silly.” 

Jisung tries to adjust himself and his leg falls off the seat, knocking his knee into the glass door of the shower with a loud thud. He’s jostled awake, the shock and pain having him tear up quickly as he clutches at his leg.

“Are you okay?” Jaemin asks, worriedly crouching down to examine his leg. 

“Hurts…” Jisung tearfully whines. A tear squeezes out from the corner of his eye and sends Jaemin panicking. 

“Don’t cry, hmm? Does it hurt a lot? Can you walk?” Jaemin consoles him as he rubs over the sore spot as gently as he can. There’s a bruise forming, blotchy red with a little bit of black and blue. 

Jisung only sniffs in response and Jaemin sighs, pulling him into his arms. With a bit of maneuvering, he gets them both out of the bathroom and deposits Jisung to sit on his own bed. 

“Sorry, hyung,” Jisung murmurs quietly as Jaemin checks the bruise on his knee. 

Jaemin looks up to see the younger boy tearing up more. “Does it hurt that much? And why are you apologising, kid? Accidents happen.”

“No, hyung.” Jisung shakes his head and sniffs loudly. “‘M sorry for being stupid and troublesome.” 

“Why would you say that, hmm?” Jaemin sighs as he gets up. Standing over Jisung, he ruffles the still slightly tipsy boy’s hair. “A few drinks in and you forget everything I’ve told you before?” 

“But I did do something wrong this time,” Jisung protests weakly, wiping at his tears with the back of his hand. “A lot of things wrong,” he articulates, gesturing with a spread of his arms.

Jaemin frowns at his words. “What did you do?” 

“I made you come pick me up in the middle of the night in the cold. You didn’t talk to me in the car even when I looked at you, so you must be angry with me. And then I fell asleep in the bathroom so you had to come get me out. Then I hurt myself stupidly against the shower’s door and now you have to check my leg,” Jisung rambles senselessly as he tears up more. 

“I can’t even tell if you’re just drunk rambling,” Jaemin laughs, tickled by the reasons listed. He pulls Jisung into a hug and lets him dry the tears against his sleep shirt. “I’m not angry with you, I was just… I was just thinking.” _ Thinking about why I feel so troubled seeing you hang out and drink all night, happily with people of your age. _

“Are you angry with me… For falling asleep in the bathroom then?” Jisung questions softly, eyes closing, burying his face into Jaemin’s neck and lying his head down comfortably on his shoulder. 

Jaemin chuckles and pats his back. Who knew Jisung would be this pliant and soft, seeking physical touch like that after a few drinks? “Of course not, why would I be?”

“I don’t know…” Jisung begins to trail off, voice growing even quieter. “Are you angry… Angry with me? ‘M sorry, hyung…” 

“Are you even listening to what I’m saying, kid?” Jaemin asks, continuing to rub circles on Jisung’s back as if soothing a small child. “I told you, I’m not angry, hmm?” 

“Okay, hyung… Sorry for making you angry…” 

Jaemin tries to pull away slightly to look him in the face, but Jisung merely clings onto him even more, refusing to budge. He shifts only slightly with a small whine of complain when Jaemin prods as his cheek, readjusting to sleep more comfortably against Jaemin’s shoulder. 

Jaemin sighs aloud, not sure if he should laugh or cry along with Jisung at the situation. 

“You seriously…” He laughs and smacks the clingy, tearful bundle in his arms lightly on the back. The action elicits another muffled, sleepy apology from Jisung, making him snort in laughter. 

“Hey,” Jaemin cajoles him softly, patting his cheek. “I get you’re all comfy and asleep, but you gotta let me go sleep too, kid.” 

Jisung merely tightens his hold on him. “Okay… Sorry hyung…” 

Jaemin brushes the slightly damp hair out of Jisung’s face with a sigh. 

Jisung wakes up with his head pounding, feeling like he got run over by two trucks successively. There’s a warm breath fanning over his forehead and he looks up, slightly irked. He freezes completely when he realises he’s in Jaemin’s arms— or more accurately, Jaemin is caged in his long limbs. He can hear his heart accelerating to speeds illegal on every highway of the world as he slowly pulls his arms away, holding his breath. 

Jaemin is jostled when Jisung tries to remove his arm from under him, taking in a sharp inhale and blearily blinking awake. They both still and stare at each other for a while, unsure of what to say. Jaemin feels his senses going into overdrive with the close proximity and knowledge that Jisung is no longer drunk and very much awake now. He takes in all the features of the younger boy, from his eyes, little button nose, lips, the tiny mole just beneath his lips— he lingers a little too long there, and swallows nervously as he meets Jisung’s eyes again. 

“Uh…” 

“Um…” 

Jisung grasps at the closest thing to his hands, only to realise belatedly that it’s Jaemin’s shirt. “S-sorry!” he exclaims in panic, sitting up hurriedly and feeling his head spin. He clutches his head and takes in a deep breath. 

“Oh– It’s okay. S’fine,” Jaemin replies as he gets up as well. “You… Okay there?” 

“I, uh, just feeling dizzy.” 

“Ah… okay. I mean, it’s not okay, I’ll get you something to drink?” Jaemin offers. “You can lie down for a bit more.” 

Jisung nods and lies down again hesitantly, watching Jaemin leave his room quickly. He racks his brain for memories of the previous night to know how exactly they ended up next to each other, but draws only fuzzy images and more dull aching from the inside of his skull. Jaemin returns with a glass of water and a painkiller for him after a while, then quickly leave the room again. Jisung eyes his closed room door miserably for a few minutes before he downs the pill and chugs the water. He bundles himself up under his covers after that, trying to block himself off from the rest of the world. About half an hour later he hears Jaemin leave for work, waits for a good five minutes more, then slowly peels himself out of his blanket burrito. 

Jaemin has never gone into work this harriedly. Even on the day his own grandfather and father met with an accident, he took everything in stride, called for all the meetings that were needed and reshuffled manpower where necessary systematically. Yet, today, even when he gets inside his office, he can’t bring himself to sit down, pacing up and down in an antsy manner. He’s even chewing at his fingernails, a habit he thought he had kicked for years already. Ten minutes later, Renjun knocks on his door and lets himself in. 

“Damn, our colleagues were not kidding when they said you look troubled as you practically ran to your office.” Renjun eyes him from top to toe. “_Dude_, the buttons of your shirt are all misaligned. What happened?” 

Jaemin looks down at his shirt, noting that indeed, one side of his collar is higher than the other. He grasps at his tie and loosens it, in hopes to ease his own breathing as he redos the buttons of his shirt. 

“Renjun. I— I’m so fucked? I don’t know what I’m doing anymore. I just… Ugh, _fuck_,” he stumbles through his words. He swallows nervously. “I think I like the kid.” 

Renjun simply stares at him, unimpressed. “I _ fucking _ knew it. I knew something was up between the two of you since the Ulsan trip.” 

“Well _ I _ didn’t know!” Jaemin cries out. “It just suddenly dawned on me when I woke up and saw him right next to me that _ god, _I want to kiss him. I want to wake up like this everyday if I could.” 

“Wait you _ slept _ with him— You’ve been _ sleeping _ with him?!” Renjun almost screeches. 

“No!” Jaemin shouts back. “No, no, he was drunk last night—” 

“He was _ drunk_? Jaemin _ what the fuck _—”

“No! We didn’t _ sleep-sleep _ with each other! He started drunk crying and rambling and then wouldn’t let go of me, so we hugged to sleep.” 

Renjun heaves a huge sigh of relief. “Fuck, I thought I was going to have to represent you in a criminal court.” 

“He’s not a minor, even though he behaves like one. Also, I wouldn’t take advantage of him like that— Wait, not the point, I— what am I supposed to do now? We’re not supposed— It’s not supposed to be like this,” Jaemin groans, clutching the sides of his head and sinks into his chair.

“I mean, you guys are legally married right? Talk to him about it. What if he feels the same?”

Jaemin buries his face into his hands. “What are the chances? All I’ve been doing from the start is waiting for the day to get out of the marriage. Hell, we signed a prenuptial and I gave him a set of divorce papers to sign the moment two years are up, told him I’d take responsibility for explaining to the elders, come up with some stupid excuse like I’m in love with someone else— but no, I like _ him _ now.” He looks up in despair. “And it’s almost two years now. Life’s fucking with me, isn’t it? I hated going into it so much, but then he comes along all cute and sweet and absolutely charms me into the life of knowing what it’s like to have someone I care for; someone to care for me. Now what do I fucking do?”

“Jaemin, calm down first.” Renjun pushes him to lean back in his chair. “Like I said, talk to him. I personally find it really hard to believe he doesn’t like you one bit if he’s been going along with all the things you guys have been doing.” He chews on the side of his cheek in thought. “If the two years are almost up, it also means it’s kind of your second year anniversary right? You two have been so ridiculously domestic and sweet, just give him a surprise, do something romantic and tell him you like him. Tell him you want to continue being married to him. It’s not the end of the world!”

Jaemin shakes his head. “You don’t understand, I don’t know how this works; I’ve never had feelings for someone like these before. I don’t know what I’m supposed to do. Oh god, what if he doesn’t want this? Our relationship didn’t even start out right, we didn’t even get to know each other— We just jumped the gun— We just went straight to marriage! How is this supposed to work out?” 

“Dude, relax, calm down! You’re getting ahead of yourself. You don’t know if he thinks of it like that, and you can’t speak for him. You have to ask him. And from what you’ve been telling me, he’s a very nice kid, isn’t he? He’s not going to hit you or throw water in your face. Just sit down and talk about it with him. The worse he’ll do is just… Uh, hide away from you? I mean— based on his track record,” Renjun advises sheepishly. 

“That’s not… That’s not very reassuring,” Jaemin groans. 

“Don’t just cherry-pick my words and hear only the bad parts,” Renjun chides. “There’s no right or wrong answers to a relationship. Everyone works different. So talk to him.” 

“Okay,” Jaemin breathes. “Okay. I should talk it out with him.” 

Renjun nods. “Yeah, do that.”

“I should do something, get him something, because it’s not the end, it’s technically our second anniversary,” Jaemin speaks aloud, looking to his friend for moral support. 

“Yup. You should, and it doesn’t need to be grand big gestures. It’s more important to show him you’re being sincere.” 

“Okay. Everything is going to be okay, right?” he asks, voice shaking with uncertainty and trepidation. 

“Yes, everything is going to be fine, don’t overthink it.” 

——✩——

Jisung skips the day’s classes and escapes to the convenience store. It’s not Donghyuck’s shift yet, since he only works in the evenings, so he just sits at the tables and stares into space, contemplating the situation at hand. He thinks about Jaemin, from the start when they first met, all the way up to the morning they woke up in each others’ arms. He recalls all the sweet gestures, taking care of him and teaching him how to cook; even the embarrassing memory of clinging to him in drunken stupor the night before is all coming back to him. He relives the hesitance and awkwardness in Jaemin’s eyes when they woke up next to each other, seemingly mocking at him for liking someone who is just being incredibly nice to him, nothing more. The hours go by quickly and his thoughts progressively get more depressing. When Donghyuck finally comes in, he’s almost on the verge of crying again. 

“Donghyuck hyung, what am I supposed to do if I like someone more than I should?” 

Donghyuck startles as he’s putting on his uniform. _ God_, he deserves higher pay to play relationship counsellor on top of manning the counter. 

“What do you mean? Are you… are you cheating on your husband?” Donghyuck asks carefully. 

“Huh? No, of course not! No, no, the person I’m talking about is my husband,” Jisung waves his hands about as he rushes to explain. 

Donghyuck stares at him, dumbfounded. “Then… What’s wrong with liking him? How is he not supposed to be the person you should be liking?” 

Jisung’s bottom lip juts out as he lowers his head, fingers finding their way to tug at the hem of his sweater. “Because… right from the start, we didn’t marry each other because we liked each other.” 

“What? Then why did you get married to him?” 

Jisung sighs. “Long story short, it was an arranged marriage. We both didn’t want to be married at the start so we made a deal, signed a contract and all. We’re supposed to get a divorce once everything settles for his company, which is… right about now. Nobody knows we’re only married in name and put a timer on it. To make things worse, my family’s company is in a partnership with his now too.”

“That sounds complicated,” Donghyuck comments. “Uh… Well, have you talked to him about it? From what I see, you two have been getting along very well though?” 

Tears squeeze out from the corners of Jisung’s eyes. “No… There’s no feelings in it for him. Right at the start, he told me he doesn’t believe in relationships. This is just all on me. I knew what I was getting into but still started liking him.” He wipes at his eyes with the back of his hand and cracks a sad smile. “It’s so unfair that he’s so nice and good at everything but makes himself unavailable as a potential partner. Anyone would be so lucky to have him. So there’s no point in it for me to continue stay by his side… I honestly don’t do anything that can help him in any way either.” 

“Oh no, you poor baby.” Donghyuck pulls him into a hug and rubs his back gently. 

“I don’t know what I’m supposed to do now,” Jisung sniffs, leaning into the hug. 

“It’s okay, it’s all going to be okay. Just do what you think is right, what you think will make you happy, hmm?” 

“That means… I should sign the papers and get a divorce, because that’s what was agreed on from the start. We should just return things to where it was from the beginning,” Jisung says, feeling his chest ache as he speaks the words aloud. 

Donghyuck holds him firmly by the shoulders and questions, “But will you be okay if you did that? It’s okay to be selfish for yourself, you know?” 

Jisung shakes his head. “It wouldn’t be selfish, it would be stupid to act on my feelings. Things are already complicated as it is, I shouldn’t make it worse with my own feelings. This is a me-problem.”

“Your feelings are not stupid, okay? It’s not a problem; it’s okay to like someone,” Donghyuck argues. 

“Yeah, but it just so happens that I like someone who won’t like me back, even though I’m legally married to him already. I’m just… Just really unlucky,” Jisung sobs. 

“That’s not it,” Donghyuck retorts while pulling out paper napkins to dry his tears. “It’s just not the right time for you to meet your special someone yet, okay? That time will eventually come, and everything will fall into place after that, yeah?” 

“Yeah,” Jisung agrees softly. “Yeah, I hope so.” 

——✩——

A couple of days later, Jisung knocks on Jaemin’s door around evening time. He hears Jaemin’s slippers pad towards him and the door opens. 

“Can I go in?” he asks carefully. 

Jaemin nods with a small smile, gesturing inside. Jisung bows slightly and steps in. In the two years of living together, this is the first time he’s seen the inside of Jaemin’s room. There’s a bed similar to his own, but the things are more organised, and there’s an office table in the corner of the room where a pile of folders sit. It pricks him on the inside that Jaemin and him are very different, doing starkly different things despite being in the same apartment. 

“I, uh, don’t have an extra chair, you can sit on my bed,” Jaemin offers. 

“Oh, no, it’s okay. I’ll just make it quick,” Jisung says, forcing a smile. “I just wanted to give you these.” 

He holds out a stack of papers. 

Jaemin recognises them immediately. His heart drops as he reads the header, bearing the words _ ‘Divorce Agreement’_. Hands shaking, he reaches out for them slowly, dreading every single millimeter he gets closer to them. 

Jisung hesitates as he continues to hold onto them firmly. He almost wants to retract his hand and tell Jaemin he doesn’t want to go through with it anymore, but gives up the fight and lets go when Jaemin takes the other end of the papers. 

_ This is how it should be, this is what we agreed on, _ he reminds himself. 

“I, um… I know it’s still a couple days more, but I just thought I should get over and done with it,” Jisung explains, fingers digging into the hem of his shirt in a tight grip. “I mean… We would have to sign it sooner or later, right?” 

Jaemin cannot bring himself to nod or make any indications of agreement. Each word Jisung says seems to be driving a sharp object through his heart _and_ twisting at it, hurting it immensely and he almost finds it too hard to continue breathing. 

“Can I… Can I ask you for a favour, though?” Jisung asks hesitantly. 

Jaemin swallows the lump in his throat and nods. “Go ahead, as long as it’s within my capabilities, I’ll try my best for you.” 

Jisung cracks a smile at that. “Thank you,” he says gratefully. “It’s just, there’s a partnership going on between our companies now, right? I don’t want to cause trouble for you or grandfather, so can we keep this between us for now? That means we have to continue to stay together for a while more.” He then hastily tacks on, “I’ll find some way to break the news to my family as soon as I can, don’t worry! And you can prepare some kind of media release in the meantime so the news doesn’t hurt Na Holdings.” 

“No,” Jaemin states, voice beginning to sound strained. Jisung glances at him in worry. Jaemin clears his throat uncomfortably. “It’s not it— I mean— of course we can do that. Don’t worry about it, I’ll stay for as long as you need me to. Take your time.” 

_ Please, take your time, take forever if you have to_, he thinks, fingers tightening around the signed papers, wishing he could just rip them apart there and then. 

“Thank you,” Jisung says shakily. He reaches into his pocket and brings out a little gift box. “I have another thing for you actually. It’s not much…” He opens the box to reveal a personalised tie pin with a stylistic _ J _ engraved on it. “It’s just a funny thought I had… If we were actually married it would technically be our second wedding anniversary. We spent the first making dumplings and there was no gifts or anything, so I thought I could at least get you something this time.” 

Jaemin picks the box up from Jisung’s open palm and holds it tightly in his hand. “It looks great, I love it already. Thank you. I, uh…” 

“Oh no, it’s okay, don’t worry about it. I wasn’t expecting anything in return. Plus I’m already asking a favour of you, so… Yeah.” Jisung rubs at his nape awkwardly. “You probably have a ton of them, you don’t have to use it.” 

“No, I will,” Jaemin assures him immediately. “I will use it.” 

“Okay.” Jisung offers him one last shy smile. “I guess… That’s it. Thank you for putting up with me as my legal husband for the past two years?” 

Jaemin stares at him, chewing on his bottom lip and willing the tears to stay down. “Is it okay if I hugged you?” he asks hoarsely after the long silence. Jisung nods, and he drops the things in his hands onto the table, pulling the younger boy into a tight embrace immediately, pressing a light kiss to the side of his head. “Thank you, too. Thanks for coming into my life like that. I just… I wish we could have met in better circumstances, I really do.” 

“Me too, hyung,” Jisung whispers softly, snuggling into the hug. “Me too.” 

After Jisung leaves his room, Jaemin sits at his desk for a long while, just staring at the divorce agreement, devastated. He eventually decides he can’t stand the sight of them and pulls open the first drawer of his desk to shove them in. A ring box lies right on top of other documents inside and he takes it out with a heavy heart. He opens it slowly, revealing two wedding bands nestled carefully in the cushion; the very ones he and Jisung had worn for a few hours the day they registered their marriage. He runs his finger over the new engraving on the outside, feeling the small grooves of two J’s— one J on each ring, one half of a heart each, forming a complete heart when placed side by side. 

He thinks about how he sneaked into Jisung’s room and took a measurement of his ring finger a couple of nights ago so he could resize the ring. He thinks about how he excitedly described the design he wanted to the jeweler, hands wildly gesturing the positioning of the letters. He thinks about how he had imagined this should have played out, with him asking Jisung to stay with him, slipping the ring onto the younger boy’s finger with a smile. Everything seems ridiculous now, so he laughs. He laughs, snapping the box shut and shoving it along with the crumpled divorce agreement into his drawer. He laughs, sweeping everything on his desk onto the floor in anger, because Renjun was wrong and Jisung signed the divorce papers; Jisung _ doesn’t _ want this with him. He laughs, tries to laugh some more, but it gives way to tears that won’t stop as he stares at the lone J carved onto his new tie pin— it mocks at him for thinking he and Jisung could be together, when he’s now left all alone once more.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pretending they're amicable in front of others comes easily because of all the time they've spent together, but it's difficult to pretend they're completely okay they're not together.

Jisung begins the final year of his studies without too much fanfare. There’s really nothing exciting, except maybe for his rather newly minted status as a divorcee, which is being kept hush hush anyway. With the final year comes a lot more free time to work on his thesis, but he finds himself filling in those gaps with extra curricular activities, and even signs up for a part-time internship; all these so that he can minimise bumping into his now ex-husband around their house and have his feelings resurface. He eventually racks up enough experience that his academic coordinator informs him that he, along with another schoolmate, would be recommended to partake in a full time internship at a publisher’s. 

Jaemin throws himself into work as well, working at the pace of a madman on every single project, stressing his employees out and worrying Renjun immensely. He keeps his word and wears the tie pin from Jisung everyday, and eventually also his wedding ring on his finger; sometimes when it gets too painful to think about their separation, he looks at the ring and allows himself to imagine what could have been. 

Weekly dinners at the Parks’ become monthly ones instead, given how busy they both are. They treat each other politely and with utmost respect around the elders to not arouse suspicion, and eventually become so adept at it they can hold each other’s hands as they leave. Neither of them realise how reluctant they both are to let go when it’s time to separate and get into the car. 

Sometimes they still inevitably bump into each other around the house, and it’s always cordial interaction, nothing more, nothing less. Jaemin still helps refill Jisung’s snack stash by their dining table, and Jisung switches out Jaemin’s coffee for tea in the middle of the night. The two cups of rice Jaemin cooks in the morning becomes one again, because he’s never sure if Jisung would stay around to eat breakfast, or be out the door from morning till late. Their long-running standard of procedure for dinner is also gone, as it becomes a toss up of a coin to see if the stars might align for them both to be home and eating together. 

Once, they both return home early enough and Jaemin asks Jisung if there’s anything he’d prefer to eat. Jisung thinks for a long while, then asks, “What is your favourite food?” 

“Me? I don’t really have a favourite, I like all kinds of Korean food,” Jaemin replies with a shrug.

Jisung smiles. “Makes sense, you always make time to put together an entire traditional breakfast in the mornings. And you know how to make almost everything.” 

“Because I eat proper meals, not just snacks like you do, kid,” Jaemin nags at him, the little nickname slipping out easily. Jisung feels his cheeks warm up and heart skip a beat at that. 

Ultimately, Jisung convinces Jaemin to make ramyeon rather than whatever would constitute a proper meal. It’s no difficult task to get Jaemin give in to him at all. 

“Come to think of it, we never got to you teaching me how to cook five things,” Jisung comments wistfully as he washes the dishes after dinner. 

Jaemin counts them mentally as he helps dry the dishes: the kimchi jjigae with Jisung’s triangular tofu, the potato pancakes that ended up burnt on one side, the small mountain of rolled eggs and the interrupted japchae. Jisung is right, they only got up to four. He wonders if he should ask Jisung if there’s anything else he wants to learn, but decides against it, feeling as though if they were to complete all five as promised, it would bring another thing between them to an end. All he settles for in the end is a quiet mumble. “Yeah.” 

——✩——

Dinners at the Parks’ eventually stop all together when Grandfather Park’s health deteriorates, with him having extended stays at the hospital and nobody around to head the dinners. 

Everybody tries to make it a point to visit him as often as possible. With his old age and failing health, his temperament mellows out a lot and it gets easier to talk to him, and sometimes even slip in a joke or two. 

Jisung’s older sister also finally returns, boyfriend in tow, begging for forgiveness and hoping to get his blessings. Grandfather Park initially refuses, but comes around with a sigh after a few more visits from her and her boyfriend. 

There’s an awkward meeting between the two grandson-in-laws in the hospital room once, and the Park siblings worry that there might be some form of animosity between them, especially since everyone knows that Jihyun was supposed to marry Jaemin. Jisung anxiously picks at a loose thread on his shirt and Jaemin notices, slipping his hand into the younger boy’s and giving it a squeeze to reassure him. The two grandson-in-laws acknowledge each other but barely interact, and everyone sighs in relief after that. No one bats an eye even when Jaemin takes advantage of the situation to hold Jisung’s hand for a longer while, all the way until they leave to return home. Jisung lets him anyway, willing time to pass slower so he can feel Jaemin’s fingers and his own fitted together. 

After that incident, Grandfather Park comments off-handedly to Jisung, “I may not have been the best grandparent to you and Jihyun, but seeing you and Jaemin together… Be it for Park Industries, for the family, for you… I think that is still one of the best decisions I’ve made.” 

Jisung feels his resolve crumble at the statement and tears up outside Grandfather Park’s hospital room door. “How am I supposed to tell him we’re not married anymore? It’s going to hurt him so much. All I really do is disappoint him.” 

Jaemin pulls him into a hug and presses a kiss to his forehead. “It’s okay. You don’t have to tell him today, not tomorrow, not next week if you don’t want to. I told you, take your time. Take as long as you need. I’ll stay right here no matter what.”

Jisung leans into the touch and nods, mumbling his _ thank you_’s against Jaemin’s shoulder. 

——✩——

Jisung soon receives notification from his academic coordinator that he’s been selected for the internship at the publisher’s. What he doesn’t expect is that the other schoolmate who was supposed to be interning with him was rejected, and disgruntled, she picks a fight with him after one of his classes. She shoves at him and accidentally scratches him with her nails while insinuating that he got the position only because of his connections. His friends come to his defense to fend her off, and Jisung tends to the scratches in the convenience store with Donghyuck’s help. 

“I feel like you treat this place like a one stop shop for all your needs. Emotional, relationship, medical problems, you just come here and expect me to be able patch you up,” Donghyuck complains as he sticks band-aids onto Jisung’s arm. “I don’t get paid enough to deal with this— hell, I don’t get paid by _ you _ to deal with this.” 

Jisung giggles at his dramatic outburst. “You say all that but still help me anyway. In some kind of strange way, you’re like my best friend now.” 

“That’s _ hyung _ to you, brat,” Donghyuck pretends to seethe at him. 

Jisung stills at the familiar words Jaemin once said to him. Come to think of it, they haven’t been many instances where he actually called Jaemin _ hyung_; he still most oftenly called him old man mischievously, and after the divorce, they mostly don’t refer to each other by anything anymore. 

“Donghyuck hyung, do you ever feel sad you don’t have the chance to call someone _ hyung _ anymore?” 

Donghyuck eyes him weirdly. “Sir, this is a Family Mart convenience store and I’m just a part-timer. We don’t take strange, philosophical questions here, only orders to help heat food up.” 

Jisung wrinkles his nose and pouts at the response. Donghyuck sighs and gives in. “This is about your ex-husband isn’t it?” Jisung nods. 

“I don’t know, never had that experience. Why don’t you tell me more about it?” 

Jisung visibly deflates in his seat. “Honestly, we’re still keeping up the front that we’re married because I don’t know how to break the news to my family. And he just lets me take my time because he said he promised to take the blame for the divorce, this is supposedly part and parcel of it. The way he’s being so nice about it… It sucks to be under the same roof as him constantly remembering how we’re no longer married despite the fact I like him a lot.” 

“You have a real unique problem on your hands, I don’t know what to say to you or what you can do. I’m stuck,” Donghyuck admits, throwing his hands up. 

“It’s okay. I just wanted to rant to somebody. I don’t know when or how this will eventually be resolved… Sometimes I don’t know if I want it to be resolved.” 

“Do you regret signing the divorce agreement?” Donghyuck asks. 

Jisung shakes his head, stops, then nods. 

——✩——

Jaemin discovers his mild injuries in a matter of hours. Jisung lies that he just accidentally tripped and fell, it’s no big deal. What catches his eye more is the silver band on Jaemin’s ring finger as he examines Jisung’s forearm. He’s noticed it for a while now, and assumed it was just an accessory, but up close, he sees the engraving on it for the first time. If it’s half a heart, it means somewhere else, or on someone else’s finger, there’s another ring with the missing half of the heart.

“Do you… Are you seeing someone?” 

Jaemin startles at the question. “Why would you ask that?” 

“I’ve seen you wear your ring for some time now,” Jisung replies. 

Jaemin runs his fingers over it lightly and smiles wryly. “Ah… No, I’m not.” 

“Is it because of the current predicament we’re in? I’m sorry I keep dragging it on, I’ll try to think of some way to let grandfather know—”

“Jisung, I’m not seeing anyone.” 

“You don’t have to lie to me, we’re the only ones who know we’re divorced. It’s fine… It’s okay. It’s okay if you want to see someone else,” Jisung forces his words with a brave smile. 

Jaemin sighs. “I’m really not seeing anyone.” He swallows the lump in his throat. “I told you before, didn’t I? That I… don’t believe in relationships.”

“Yeah,” Jisung replies, voice growing a lot softer. “Yeah you did.” 

“Mm. So… Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to tell grandfather anything.” 

Jisung nods. “Okay.” 

“And… What about you?” Jaemin asks, even though he’s afraid of hearing the answer. 

“Me?” 

“I mean… One of the reasons we agreed to be only married for two years is so you can go find your own New York Times bestseller love story, right?” Jaemin chuckles, but the smile doesn’t reach his eyes. 

Jisung glances at Jaemin as he speaks.“I don’t think I can find it anymore. I think I’ve stopped believing in it being possible.” He lowers his head and laughs dismally. “Maybe it never existed in the first place. Maybe there’s a reason why they’re just fiction. Maybe people all read them because it’s not going to happen in real life.” 

——✩——

Jisung locks his phone’s screen after seeing a message from Jaemin that he ended his meetings early and would be coming over to pick him up from school. He replies with an “Okay, thank you” and the location of the pick-up point closest to his last class of the day. In the last few minutes before his professor dismisses them, he feels uncomfortable, as if he’s being watched. He looks around as discreetly as possible and finds nothing amiss, then dismissed it as his overactive imagination. 

He stays behind after a while to talk to the professor as they class clears out, leaving only a couple minutes later to meet Jaemin. He spots the car waiting and waves with a smile, but before he can walk down to it, somebody grabs at his arm and pulls him back. 

“No wonder the prof picked you over me, you always stay behind to chat with her and suck up to her, don’t you?” He recognises the girl as the one who scratched him a couple of days ago. “I knew you weren’t any better than me, what, did you sleep with her to get the internship?” she scoffs. 

“I—” Jisung stares at her, flabbergasted at the accusation. “I did not,” he states quietly. 

“Don’t act so high and mighty, just admit you pulled strings just to get an advantage. There’s no other way you could have gotten it over me,” she snorts and shoves at him. 

Jisung feels himself slip backwards at the hard shove, but an arm comes around his waist to steady him. Jaemin doesn’t let go of him after that; just pulls him closer to his side and holds his hand. 

“Excuse me, what you said could constitute defamation. Please watch your words,” Jaemin warns her with a grimace. 

The girl scans him from top to toe, eyeing the formal wear, then scoffs again, “And who’s this now? Your sugar daddy? What about those classmates from the last time, you sleep around with them so they protect you too?” 

Jaemin’s eyes perk up at her words, glancing briefly at Jisung questioningly at the mention of a previous incident. Jisung casts his eyes downwards and he turns his attention back to the girl, “Miss, you’re extremely rude. I’m informing your faculty of your behaviour and your admission to trying to hurt _my husband_ not only once, but on two separate occasions.” 

With that, he pulls Jisung away and heads back to the car. The entire journey to their apartment is extremely silent, and Jisung grips tightly on the hamster plush hanging on his bag anxiously. Jaemin doesn’t look once in his direction, jaw clenching as he keeps his eyes on the road. They don’t exchange a word even after getting back, and Jaemin slams the bathroom door shut as he gets in for a cold shower to calm himself down. Jisung jumps at the sound, and when he gathers his bearings, he slips out of their apartment door. 

——✩——

“I’ve done it now, Donghyuck hyung, I’ve really done it now,” Jisung says once he gets through the convenience store doors, breaking down into tears immediately. “I’ve made him so angry he doesn’t want to talk to me, not even look at me.” 

Donghyuck scrambles from the back of the counter to offer him napkins to dry his tears. “What happened? It’s okay, it’s going to be okay, yeah?” 

Jisung shakes his head, continuing to sob. Donghyuck pats at his back to comfort him. “Everything can be worked out, it’ll be fine eventually, yeah?” 

The automated jingle of the convenience store rings— it’s Jaemin, and Jisung finds himself pulled up into a hug immediately. 

“Kid, why are you crying here?” 

“I’m sorry, I’m so sorry,” Jisung whimpers, leaning in and clutching onto the back of Jaemin’s shirt— “You… Why are you not wearing a coat?” He frowns and pulls away to look at Jaemin from top to toe. He’s in a shirt and shorts, along with household slippers, definitely not the right attire for the cold autumn evening. Even his hair is still damp from his shower. 

“You were nowhere to be found, I had to find you first,” Jaemin says with an exasperated sigh. “Jisung-ah, can we go home to talk about this? It’s not a topic we should be discussing in the middle of a Family Mart.” 

Jisung nods meekly and lets Jaemin take hold of his hand. They both bow slightly in Donghyuck’s direction before they take their leave. Donghyuck sighs as he watches them walk away. “Please stop being dumb and just get back together already.” 

The walk home is very quiet, all the way till they get back and settle onto the couch, sitting side by side. Jisung keeps his head down the entire time. Jaemin sighs. “I’m not going to lie. I was angry this time, really angry.” 

Jisung looks up at him despondently. 

“Then it became sad,” Jaemin states quietly. “Sad because you were keeping things from me, that you didn’t tell me you were being harassed at school, that you felt you had to lie to me about the scratches on your arm. All sorts of worry flooded my mind just thinking about what would have happened if I didn’t pick you up today. You’d get hurt by her more and then what? Am I going to have to visit you in a hospital? And would you have told me the truth then? Or just lie again and said it was a fall?” He looks at Jisung sadly. 

“I’m sorry. I’ve just always been nothing but trouble and a huge burden to you, all I know is to make things difficult,” Jisung apologises, tears making their way down his face again. 

Jaemin winces at the words, feeling each syllable seemingly cut at his heart. “Why does every step forward with you always have to result in two steps backwards.” He closes his eyes and sighs. “You never listen to me, always apologising indiscriminately; rarely call me hyung when I’ve told you to, except that one time you were drunk; always try to do things you’re not good at so it ends with me having to do the job twice over and teach you— you’re right. You do make things difficult.” 

Jisung sobs harder at his words, wiping furiously at his tears as he apologises even more. 

“You even make it difficult for me to stay upset with you because you do this pouting thing and start tearing up, looking like a small sad puppy and I just want to hug you and give you all the head pats in the world,” Jaemin muses as he ruffles the crying boy’s hair. Jisung glances at him through the tears, confused. 

“But why,” Jaemin begins, then swallows at the lump in his throat making it hard to speak. “Why didn’t you make it difficult to fall in love with you?” 

Jisung stops crying all together from the shock at hearing those words. Jaemin smiles wryly, pulling out a chain around his neck hidden under his shirt, then unclasps it. A ring falls into his palm and Jisung notices the similar engraving to the one on his finger. Jaemin pulls the younger boy’s hand into his, and slips the ring onto his ring finger. It’s a perfect fit. Jisung sucks in a startled inhale. 

“You asked me before if there was someone I was seeing because of my ring. Why would I be seeing anyone if I have you, hmm?” Jaemin asks, interlocking their fingers together. “This isn’t just a heart, it’s two J’s, one J is for Jaemin, that’s me. The other J is for Jisung, that’s you. It’s only ever been you.” 

“H-how…? How is this possible… You said you didn’t believe in relationships,” Jisung questions, staring at the band sitting snugly at the base of his finger. “And you told me… You said it again when I asked you about the ring.” 

“Because we started off on the wrong foot; we didn’t even get to know each other at all and just went straight to marriage first.” Jaemin runs his fingers along the back of Jisung’s hand. “The first year we lived together… I was a terrible person to you. All I cared about was fulfilling the conditions of my grandfather’s will and making the shareholders of my company happy. The second year was such a huge improvement, and it felt like we were actual husbands in love with each other, doing all the little domestic things together. _ You _ made me believe in relationships.” He smiles, and reaches to comb gently through Jisung’s hair, before the smile slowly drops again. “But you signed the divorce papers, because that’s what we agreed on in the first place. And in the first place... we weren’t meant to be together like that.” He sinks his teeth into his bottom lip and takes in a deep breath. Jisung casts his eyes down again. 

“At that time I really— I seriously hated the world so much. I never had a proper family growing up and eventually learnt how to deal with that. Then _ you _ came into my life; you showed me what it’s like to have a _ family_, to be able to bask in tender loving care and concern.” Jaemin presses his open palm to the side of Jisung’s face and runs his thumb across the younger boy’s cheek.

“Everything about you became more important to me than everything else I ever had. The words you mumble in the softest voice, the slightest of smiles you show me when there’s only two of us around, the little things you do for me without saying a word— but it’s not permanent. I thought, _ wow_, the world is so _ fucking _ unfair, they gave me you after I’ve been alone for such a long while, but now they’re taking you away from me, I’m going to be all alone again,” Jaemin continues, voice sounding forced and strained. “And it was so easy to agree to your request to stay together for a while more. I didn’t care if the reason was the companies, grandfather, not us; I was desperate for anything to keep you by my side. Every single day more that I could spend with you, I had to take it. The worst thing was we promised— I promised…” Jaemin tries to stop himself from choking up. “I promised, that it’s only fair to you to go find somebody out there you actually love, but until now… Until now I still haven’t signed the divorce papers.” 

Jisung startles at his words. “You didn’t sign them?” 

“I didn’t sign them.” Jaemin nods and looks down. “I just… I wanted to hold on for as long as I could. Even if I couldn’t be the New York Times bestseller love story you envisioned.” 

The silence that follows after that feels so long, but Jaemin would rather wait forever and never hear a thing again, because he’s so afraid that Jisung is going to tell him he’s crazy, absolutely nuts for trying to keep him around, that this whole marriage was a sham to begin with, they didn’t love each other at the start, and they’re not supposed to love each other like that, ever. So, what is there to hold on for? Jaemin covers his face with both hands, as if they could obscure the harsh reality if he chooses to not look at it in the face. 

He feels the spot next to him on the couch dip and Jisung tugs at his wrists gently, pulling his hands away from his face. He looks up, tears rolling down his own cheeks. He blinks, and more tears fall, and his vision clears up enough to take in the boy kneeling by his side. Jisung purses his lips nervously. 

“H-hyung,” Jisung mumbles softly, pulling Jaemin’s hands into his.

Jaemin doesn’t dare respond, still so deathly afraid Jisung is going to say he’s going to leave him there and then.

“Hyung,” Jisung tries again, and this time he clambers into Jaemin’s lap and pulls Jaemin’s arms to come around his waist, hands resting on the small of his back easily like they’ve always belonged there.

Jaemin’s breath hitches as Jisung leans in closer, pressing their foreheads together. Jisung’s own arms loop around his neck easily. 

“_Hyung_,” Jisung’s voice has dropped to a bare whisper, but Jaemin can still hear him clearly because of how close they are. 

“Don’t sign them,” he says softly. 

“Don’t sign them if you don’t want to,” he continues, voice straining a little. 

“Don’t sign them and regret it everyday like I did,” Jisung states, voice quaking. 

“There’s no New York Times bestseller love story I can find to my liking anymore, because all I want is the one I can write with you. And I don’t need to go out there and find somebody I love, because _you_ are the only one I want to love.” 

Jaemin sobs out loud at the confession. He pulls Jisung closer, hand cradling the back of his head as he kisses the younger with everything he’s got. Jisung closes his eyes and parts his lips, lets Jaemin kiss him harder, responding just as fervently. It’s rushed, it’s urgent, it’s over-eager; it’s _ downright desperate _ — they both desperately need to convey just how much they care for and love each other. It’s sticky and salty from all the tears, but it gives way to a warm and sweet aftertaste as they lean against each other’s forehead, catching their breaths. 

Jisung smiles shyly and brushes his fingertips against Jaemin’s cheek to wipe at the remnants of his tears. Jaemin reaches to take Jisung’s hand into his, lacing their fingers together with an equally soft smile. “I was so scared… So scared you were going to say I’m crazy and this is just all on me.” 

“I want this too, hyung. It’s not just you.” For lack of better words, Jisung leans in to give him another soft kiss on the lips. “Why didn’t you tell me? You let me sign— You accepted the signed divorce papers from me.”

Jaemin exhales shakily, still trying to wrap his head around the idea that Jisung is in his arms, Jisung just kissed him, and Jisung is not going to leave him. “We just, you know… We just never really went through the right processes and mechanisms of coming together in our relationship. I— I don’t even know what to call our relationship now; I know we’re married and this makes no sense. But we’re kind of divorced but not really, like, technically you’ve unilaterally divorced me—“

“Hyung,” Jisung interrupts. “Hyung, I don’t want to be divorced from you. I told you, I regret signing the papers everyday. Throw them away, shred them, recycle them, I don’t know. And you didn’t sign it, so it doesn’t count.” He adds much more quietly, “Don’t sign it, don’t ever divorce me, _ please_.” 

“I won’t.” Jaemin hugs him closer and presses his lips to Jisung’s forehead, his nose, his lips. “Never,” Jaemin swears breathily. “It’s the literal last thing I would ever do. If we weren’t already married I’d be getting down on one knee— both knees, begging you to please marry me. I never want to be separated from you. I love you. I love you so much, I don’t think I can go back to life without you.” 

Jisung tears up at his confession and tightens his arms around Jaemin’s neck. “Me too. I love you, hyung.” Jaemin smiles, gently wiping away his tears. 

“I still want to ask,” Jaemin swallows nervously as he speaks. “Because I never got to ask and make sure at the start, so I want to. Like, I know we’re still recognised by law and everything… Even though the current situation is not the best, and I don’t have all the things I should have but… 

“Park Jisung, will you marry me?” 

Jisung’s breath hitches at the question. They’re technically already married, but Jaemin still popping the question is sending his heart beating ten times faster. Jaemin’s anxiousness picks up again in the silence. 

“I mean it as, entirely out of your own volition, that you actually want to be with me, and not because of—” 

“Yes,” Jisung cuts him off. “Yes!” he raises his voice with a shout. “Yes, I will marry you.” He watches as Jaemin visibly relaxes with a _ thank god! _ on his lips. Jisung laughs, even though he’s beginning to tear up again. 

“Of course I would marry you. You’re the best thing in my life. You’re so infinitely patient with me, I don’t know how you do it,” Jisung says with a smile. “Like you said, I’m so bad around the house, I can’t cook to save my life, I don’t even know how to stand up for myself. But you help me when I try to pretend to be domestically inclined, you teach me how to flip pancakes and how much water to put into soups, you encourage me to speak my thoughts and defend me if I still can’t do it.” A tear begins to make its way down his cheek, and Jaemin catches it, offering him a fond smile in encouragement. 

“Silly, I told you, as long as it’s within my capabilities, I’ll always try my best for you.” 

Jisung nods. “And you do. Every time I run away from my problems, you always find me and bring me home. Every request I’ve made of you, you never outright say no and always try your best to fulfill them. You really… There’s no hesitance in doing anything for me, be it not say anything to grandfather, or even just today; you’re upset with me, but you still helped me in front of my classmate, still went out to get me back home here with you. You keep me safe; you make me feel safe with you. So, really, you’re the best thing in my life.” Jisung wipes at his own tears before hooking his arms around Jaemin’s neck again.

“And the bestest of all best things is I’m already married to you.” 

He leans in to give Jaemin a kiss on the cheek, only to recoil with a wrinkle of his nose. “Mm, tastes salty from all your tears,” he complains and sticks out his tongue playfully.

Jaemin laughs and smacks him on the back lightly. “_God_. How do you say such emotional things and turn around to be so cheeky. I swear, you’re too much sometimes; you’re lucky I love you.”

“I am,” Jisung agrees with a nod.

Jaemin pulls him closer and plays with the hair on the back of his head. “What do I do with you,” he sighs contentedly. 

“Marry me,” Jisung replies without missing a beat, leaning into Jaemin’s touch. “Isn’t that what we’re talking about?” 

“I will, even though we’re already married, I still want to marry you. I’m going to marry the hell out of you.” 

Jisung giggles, corner of his lips curling up at Jaemin’s words. “Yeah? How are you going to do that?” 

“Hmm,” Jaemin ponders as he plays with Jisung’s fingers, letting their matching rings clink together. “We’ll go register our marriage across the world, every country possible, until we’re recognised as married on every continent, every country, every city on this planet.” 

“That’s a lot of places,” Jisung points out, but he’s not disagreeing to the idea. “What if we can’t finish all of them?” 

There’s no hesitation in Jaemin’s reply. “Then we continue in our next life. The third one after. And after that too. Until we visit all of them. Deal?” 

Jisung grins and nods. “Deal. Let’s do that.” 

Jaemin returns the bright smile and leans in to kiss him again. 

“Jisung,” Jaemin mumbles breathily against his lips. Jisung hums a quiet _ mmm? _ in acknowledgement. 

“Jisung,” he says a little louder. The younger boy nods slightly, to tell him _ yes, I’m listening. _

“Jisung,” Jaemin calls out with more confidence and hugs the boy a little tighter. And Jisung answers with a bright smile, the one reserved only for him, “Yes, that’s me, I’m here.” 

Jaemin grins wider. “Jisung, baby—” he leans in to connect their lips again. “Sweetheart.” Another peck. “Love.” A third kiss. “My dear.” Yet another brief kiss. Jisung is reduced to a giggly fit in his arms, responding to all of the terms of endearment with a nod and kissing back. 

“Whatever did I do in my past life to deserve you?” Jaemin sighs happily and buries his face into the crook of Jisung’s neck, inhaling deeply and taking in all of the younger boy. 

“Save the world,” Jisung replies mischievously with a grin, resting his head on Jaemin’s shoulder. Jaemin doesn’t put up an argument, just nods. “Maybe I did.” 

Jisung laughs, and Jaemin closes his eyes to listen to the melodic chime and feel every vibration of the younger’s chest against his own. 

——✩——

Things around the apartment are shifted around quite a bit after that. Some stuff are discarded, some shoved together (haphazardly; courtesy of Jisung, and Jaemin rolls his eyes fondly before sorting them out), some added. Jaemin’s room is converted into a proper workspace, the extra bed thrown out and most of his things moved into the now-shared room with Jisung. There’s a second desk and chair in there for Jisung to get some writing done while accompanying him as well. Jaemin thinks one of the best new purchases is the swivelling chairs, because more often than not, he finds himself rolling over to Jisung’s table to annoy the younger boy into giving him kisses after he ends his teleconferences. Jisung sometimes shies away but Jaemin can just grab hold of the chair to turn him around, look at him with a teasing smile and then kiss him senseless. 

There’s a new bookshelf in the living room by the couch as well. It’s actually not new per se, it’s just always been in Jisung’s room and they had to move it out to make space for Jaemin’s things. The bookshelf is filled with Jisung’s favourite books, old and new. They develop a new past time on the weekends: sitting on the couch, Jisung in Jaemin’s arms and lap, back against his chest, sharing a book and reading together. Jaemin likes to gloss over the words too fast and ask to flip the page within a minute just to rile Jisung up. 

“Every word should be slowly savoured, hyung,” Jisung grumbles with a scrunch of his nose, refusing to turn the page until he’s done. They’re _ not _ doing the awkward page holding thing so they can read on different sides of a page. 

Jaemin huffs in disagreement. “The only thing I am willing to slowly savour here is spending time with you.” He lets out a short yelp when Jisung petulantly pinches him on the arm for the remark. 

“You’re so shameless.” 

“You call _ this _ shameless?” Jaemin asks incredulously. “I’ll show you what is _ real _ shameless.” 

Jaemin dog-ears the page and throws the book aside, much to Jisung’s horror, but he doesn’t have time to make any noise of complaint because Jaemin quickly captures his lips in a soft kiss. Jisung soon laughs into the kiss, book forgotten anyway. 

They go out on dates every now and then as well, and Jisung makes it a point to take lots of photos. All over their home, it starts getting littered with the photos, some of each other, most of them together. Jisung sends a few to his mother, and they look extremely sweet with each other. He tacks on a message at the very bottom. 

“I think I found the person I like most in the world.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'd just like to state that i'm in no way sponsored by Tide, Baskin Robbins, Family Mart... whatever brands mentioned in this fic, though i'd love to be. brands and companies out there who'd like to be featured in my fics, please hit me up!! (i'm just joking hahahha haha— unless...?) 
> 
> thanks for making it through so far!! it's so ridiculously long for no good reason, and those who've seen me tweeting in distress about it will know it took 7k words before jaesung even got married when it's literally supposed to be an _arranged marriage_ fic. the outline itself was twice the length of my last longest fic's outline and i debated just not writing it all together because it looked so daunting hah.  
this had a lot of potential to end in an angsty manner; especially when jisung served up the divorce papers, i legitimately thought i should try ending it there and then as a _could have been_ type of story. i will learn how to break up my otp for the most dramatic effect eventually, but just not yet in this fic. :') 
> 
> hope y'all enjoyed it as much as i did writing it ♡ (also hope y'all cried a bit over it because i did too in the process of writing and i refuse to go down alone lmao)  
let me know what you think of it! :) ♡
> 
> ALSO, this is not the end yet, an epilogue will be up in a couple of days, hopefully.
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/jaesungrise) || [curious cat](http://curiouscat.me/allthelines)


	5. Epilogue

Jisung is immensely stressed. 

Their third year anniversary is just around the corner, in a couple of days time. He wants to ask Jaemin if he has any particular plans to celebrate the day, any gift he wants to receive, but Jaemin seems to have been avoiding him for some reason. He’s sure it’s not because their marriage is on the rocks because Jaemin still wakes him with excessive kisses all over his face every morning and refuses to sleep without hugging him to the extent he feels like he’s Jaemin’s over-glorified bolster every night. But lately, the older man gets all secretive and avoidant, nowhere to be found around their home, disappearing for hours on end. Even now, they were supposed to be visiting Grandfather Park at the hospital together, yet Jisung is left alone again after Jaemin briefly tells him he has something urgent to attend to and will come by to pick him up later. 

The elderly man has just finished a surgery on his liver not too long ago and is still wheelchair-bound on doctors orders, in order to let the surgical wound recover properly. It doesn’t stop him from throwing his weight about as the head of the family and ordering his family members around anyway. 

“Oi little punk, when are you and Jaemin going to hold your wedding ceremony? His old fogey has been gone for three years, no? Isn’t his mourning period over?” 

Jisung tenses up behind the wheelchair and scratches his head, unsure how to reply his grandfather. It’s not the first time he’s been asked the question and honestly one of the main reasons why he’s stressed too. His parents have both asked him, his sister has asked him, his brother-in-law raised a curious brow at him, and at his sister’s wedding a couple of months ago, tons of distant relatives and family friends also nosily asked when they would be able to attend the younger Park sibling’s official wedding. He’s almost sure the moment his sister has a baby, his niece or nephew would come out asking him when he’s going to hold a reception, not crying.

“Uh…” 

Grandfather Park turns to give his grandson a disdainful side-eye. “Have you two not thought about it at all?” 

“It’s not that, it’s just…” Jisung trails off and plays with his hoodie sleeves. Yeah sure, they’ve talked about it, but it’s not concrete plans, just talks of registering their marriage across the world, and definitely not the grand wedding reception in the largest ballroom of The Shilla his grandfather probably has in mind. And how is he supposed to bring up anything when his husband is so hard to catch hold of these days? “Jaemin hyung seems to be really busy lately.” 

“Nonsense, no matter how busy work is, your wedding should be taken seriously,” Grandfather Park harrumphs. “Are you waiting for me to die before you’ll get married to spite me? Too bad, I’m in great health now after my operation!” 

“That’s not it,” Jisung refutes with a sulk. “Everybody keeps asking me, but why don’t they go bother hyung about it? I’m not the only one in this marriage.” 

“You little punk, we are all just concerned. Are you finding your elders annoying now? You’ve really grown audacious lately, Jaemin has been spoiling you too much!” 

Jisung looks away and crosses his arms, pouting.

“I can’t help it, grandfather. Jisungie is too cute not to spoil,” Jaemin’s voice cuts in suddenly. “Hey darling,” he greets Jisung, and kisses away the pout, wrapping an arm around the younger’s waist. Jisung smacks him with no actual strength to it out of embarrassment, reminding him they are in public. Jaemin pinches at the bridge of his little button nose and coos over how cute he is. Mr. Park coughs behind them and Jisung gets even more embarrassed at the sight of his parents watching them with a knowing smile, ducking slightly and burying his face against Jaemin’s shoulder. Jaemin laughs and pats the back of his head.

“Sorry to interrupt you, grandfather, but I’m actually here to kidnap Jisung. I need him to be someplace else now. I’ve explained to mom and dad, so they’ll fill you in later,” Jaemin explains with a charming smile. Grandfather Park mockingly glares at him, but waves them both off. They quickly say their goodbyes to all the elders of the family and Jaemin whisks him away, straight to the airport. 

“You weren’t kidding about kidnapping me huh. Where are you trafficking me to? Are you selling me across half the world?” Jisung asks, when they pull into Incheon Airport half an hour later. 

Jaemin chuckles and pulls him along. “Why would I ever sell you? I can’t even bear being apart from you for too long. But... you’re not wrong about travelling across half the world.” 

Jisung stops in his tracks and holds Jaemin back as they reach the departure gates. “Wait, hyung, you’re joking right? We’re not actually flying someplace now, are we?” 

“Why else would we come to an airport for?” Jaemin questions, pulling out their passports and ready-printed air tickets. Jisung gapes at them. “You’re kidding me. I don’t— Where are we going? We’re not bringing any luggage? Why did you not tell me in advance? I’m not prepared for this trip—” 

“Hey, hey, hey, darling, look at me,” Jaemin calms him down and cups his face gently. “It’s all done and dusted. You’re my top priority, I won’t let you go anywhere without preparing in advance. What do you think I’ve been disappearing off to do these days, hmm? Everything we need is either checked in or sent ahead in advance already.” 

Hearing those words make Jisung scrunch his nose in discontent and clench his fist to hit Jaemin in the shoulder. “How am I supposed to know what you’re doing behind my back? For all I know, you could be seeing someone else in those time periods you’re missing.” Jaemin laughs and ruffles his disgruntled husband’s hair. “I wanted to surprise you, sweetheart. And all I want is you, why would I bother with anybody else?” 

“I don’t know how you keep saying all these cheesy things without cringing inward on yourself,” Jisung complains, and lets Jaemin lead him into the departure area. He checks the destination on his ticket when Jaemin hands it over to him. “Why are we going to L.A.?” His eyes widen at the flight duration printed in the corner. “And it takes eleven hours!”

Jaemins eyes twinkle as he speaks. “Because that’s where my mom is.” 

“_What_.”

“We’re going to see my mom. I promised you that we’ll register our marriage across the world, and I also want my only other family to be able to see us happy, together. I want to renew my wedding vows with you in my mom’s presence.” 

Jisung stares at him, shocked, jaw hanging. He hits Jaemin again, making sure it hurts this time. “You could’ve told me!” he blubbers aloud, then belatedly realises he’s tearing up. “_God_, hyung you’re so awful, you didn’t even let me prepare anything before meeting your mom!” 

“You don’t have to do anything or try very hard, she already likes you. She complained that all I do is talk her ear off about how great you are, but I haven’t brought you to meet her in person yet,” Jaemin recounts with a laugh, wiping away Jisung’s tears. “And why are you crying, silly?” 

“_You _ try and not cry when your husband surprises you with tickets to travel across the globe to meet the other most important person in his life,” Jisung whines grouchily, turning away. He turns back briefly to prod Jaemin hard in the shoulder. “Don’t talk to me for the entire duration of the flight, I’m not going to entertain you.” 

“Aww, come on, don’t be mad at me, hmm? Even though you’re still cute when you’re angry,” Jaemin tugs at his arm with a pout. “My sweet, lovely, cutest, most adorable honey bunches—” 

Jisung slaps a hand over his mouth. “_Please stop_. Don’t do this to me in public, please, hyung.” 

Jaemin grins and plants a kiss on his cheek. “Mm, tastes salty from the tears.” He mimics Jisung’s habitual nose scrunch as he pretends to grimace. “Let me try this instead.” He then closes the gap between their lips, even teasingly licking at the seams of Jisung’s lips. “_Oh_,” he intonates dramatically with an impish smile. “This tastes sweet, I like it better.” 

Jisung shoves at him and stomps off to their boarding gate, tip of his ears visibly burning a hot red. 

——✩——

Jisung meets his mother-in-law and is stunned by the resemblance between mother and son. They speak in a rather similar way and he finally finds out from where Jaemin picked up all the cheesy terms of endearment when his mother-in-law calls him _ sweetie_, _ honey_, _ lovelykins _ and _ fluffball _ all in the span of an hour of meeting her. He can see Jaemin trying to hold back his laughter each time she gets affectionate with him, pinching his cheeks, touching his hair, all the little things Jaemin loves doing to him too. She also gets very animated and excited talking about their plans in renewing their vows in L.A., as well as other countries in the future, and Jisung recognises the same twinkle in her eyes he sees a lot in Jaemin’s eyes these days. 

“Meeting my mom wasn’t so bad, was it?” Jaemin asks when they return to their hotel. They’re both lying in bed on their sides, facing each other, playing with each other’s fingers. “Told you my mom likes you. She likes whoever her son likes.” 

Jisung nods with a smile. “You and your mom are very alike in a lot of ways.” 

“Especially in the drop dead gorgeous aspect, am I right?” Jaemin states shamelessly with a dramatic wink. 

Jisung laughs along but doesn’t disagree. “I think it’s your eyes, there’s a certain light in both you and your mom’s eyes. It shines brightly every time you two speak and just… draws people in. It’s beautiful to look at.” 

The corners of Jaemin’s lips tug upwards, and his eyes shine precisely just like how Jisung has just described. Jisung stares, mesmerised and mirrors the soft smile. 

“Like that?” Jaemin asks softly. 

Jisung nods. 

“They’re reserved only for the people we love the most in the world. You’re the only one who gets to see me with them,” Jaemin states, shifting to close the gap between them more.

“You’re so cheesy,” Jisung groans and pretends to push him away in distaste, but a blush is working its way down his neck. “You know, your mother is a little bit cheesy too with all her affectionate nicknames, but she’s the good kind, not annoying like you are.” 

Jaemin pouts and leans over him, pressing half his weight onto his husband. “How could you say I’m annoying?” 

Jisung bites back a laugh and pretends to sigh, prodding Jaemin in the shoulder. “You know, sometimes I wonder where the tall, handsome and rich CEO I married has gone. The cold, indifferent attitude, the little care for anyone, that the world is in his hands and should go by all his whims; it was really cool— honestly quite crush-worthy. Who are you and what did you do to the owner of Na Holdings?” 

“Is this your way of telling me you fell in love with me at first sight?” Jaemin grins, hair falling over his eyes. 

“You wish,” Jisung snorts with a laugh, brushing Jaemin’s hair out of his face and nudging at him slightly. “All I knew was your name when I picked you up at the airport, I didn’t even know you were a CEO until much later.”

“Huh, _ really_.” Jaemin finally lies down once more, but he tugs at Jisung to rest against his shoulder, tucking the younger’s head under his chin. Jisung complies pliantly, slinging an arm over Jaemin’s waist, tangling their legs together. 

“So what was your actual first impression of me?” 

Jisung pauses to think, and listen to Jaemin’s steady heartbeat. 

“_Intimidating_,” he mumbles. “You were dressed in a three-piece suit that fit you in all the right ways, looking like a really smart and important person. I felt as if every second I stood around with you would be wasting your time.” 

He hears Jaemin’s heartbeat pick up slightly. 

“Well, I was indeed wasting time not falling in love with you there and then,” Jaemin states playfully. Jisung tilts his head upwards to make a frowny face at the older man. “Why must you take every opportunity possible to be cheesy like that? Is this an old man thing?” 

Jaemin pretends to scowl but he can’t hide the fond smile as he pinches Jisung’s cheek. “Insolent brat. I’m just showing my love for you. You know what, grandfather is right, I’ve been spoiling you too much.” 

Jisung scrunches his nose with a huff, slapping Jaemin’s hand away from his face. 

“What about you? What was your first impression of me?” 

“_Strange kid_.” Jaemin grins. “When you asked if I was Na Jaemin, I almost wanted to say no and walk away. Then I realised I was scrutinising you in your outrageous pink hair, dark hoodie, dark ripped jeans and out of place bright red high-tops for way too long to not admit I’m Jaemin. So…” 

Jisung sulkily pinches at his waist, making Jaemin jolt in surprise. 

“Ow! What was that for?” 

“Because you’re a jerk. I can’t believe you thought of doing that!” 

“I was just being honest! And that’s the Jaemin of the past. _ Pre-Jisung Jaemin_.” Jaemin smiles, showing all his pearly whites, proud of the term he just made up. 

“_What_.” Jisung wrinkles his nose and narrows his eyes at his husband. “What kind of ridiculously cheesy nonsense are you trying to say this time?” 

Jaemin hugs him closer, wrapping both arms around the person in his arms. “Well, if you examine my life closely, there’s two phases. The first is _ pre-Jisung Jaemin_; that’s before I met you. That’s the tall, handsome, rich CEO who is cold and indifferent to everyone. Then there’s _ post-Jisung Jaemin_; that’s now. I’m still tall, handsome and rich.” 

The nonchalance and absolute lack of modesty in his tone makes Jisung snort. “You’re shameless.” 

“It’s the truth.” Jaemin shrugs. “But _ Post-Jisung Jaemin _ is slightly different because he’s no longer cold and indifferent to others. You’re like the sunshine that thawed me out, so all that’s left is a gooey mess who only has eyes for you,” Jaemin states unabashedly, then promptly leans down to sneak a quick kiss. Jisung smiles and rewards him with a second soft brush of their lips, slow and moist, before teasingly nipping at his bottom lip, leaving Jaemin chasing for more when he shifts back slightly to get a good look at his husband’s face.

“So I’m to blame that I can’t find the aloof and cool Jaemin anymore?” Jisung asks mischievously. 

“Yeah,” Jaemin whispers softly, and Jisung can feel the ghost of his breath against his lips. “Because after I met you, I no longer need to be anything else except Park Jisung’s husband.” 

——✩——

They renew their vows as promised in front of a small reception of just the two of them, Jaemin’s mom and her family, and the officiant. When the officiant asks if they have their own vows they’d like to say, Jaemin surprises Jisung again when he says yes. He takes Jisung’s hand into his, and shyly starts off with a giggly, “Hey darling.” 

Jisung smiles equally coyly, but answers with a short hum of acknowledgement.

“We’ve talked a lot about how far we’ve come, and how much we’ve grown and changed for each other, but I don’t think I will ever get sick of telling you how much I appreciate your presence in my life. 

“Initially, I still wondered how differently my life would have turned out if you didn’t waltzed in like that, but I realised after a while I didn’t care for it anymore. I would have still been a miserable person who knows only how to throw himself into work, and never know how to love— not the people around me, not even myself.

“You made me realise how difficult of a person I was, and made me want to change myself for the better. You say you’ve never met a person more patient than me, but I could say the same for you. You never gave up doing all the little things around me which slowly broke down the walls I put up. I thought I had enough after years of being with those who call themselves my family, but you redefined the term I grew to hate and made me believe in it again. 

“I’m a person who puts up a cold, impenetrable facade before others because I’m afraid of being vulnerable, but you show me that it’s okay, and that I can let all my defenses come apart before you. 

“I love you, Park Jisung, and there’s never going to be another person I look forward to each new day in life with except you.”

Jisung is reduced to tears at his speech, along with Jaemin’s mom. Even the officiant seems very moved and on the verge of tears as well. Jaemin pulls out napkins from his pocket to dry his husband’s tears and Jisung narrows his eyes at him. “You _ planned _ this. You planned to make me cry at our _ first, official _ wedding ceremony.”

Jaemin chuckles as he dabs under Jisung’s eyes. “I didn’t _ plan _ to make you cry, I just knew there was a high chance you would and prepared in advance.” 

Jisung glares at him and dries his tears as much as he can. The officiant looks at him and asks him if he would like to say something too, and he takes a deep breath before he nods. 

“I didn’t come prepared like you did, so don’t expect too much of me,” he preempts. Jaemin nods and encourages him with a fond smile. 

“You probably know from the first time we met that I don’t say a lot, not as much as I should, not as much as I want to. I’ve never really learned how to speak my thoughts or fight for myself, and all I did was go along with others’ whims and wishes, even if it meant I was not going to be happy. You say you wonder about how your life would have been without me, but I know my life without you would have been miserable.

“I was scared when I was told I had to marry you, scared when I struck the deal with you, scared when I began living with you. But soon all of that melted away to a comfort I have never known in my life. You taught me so many things; different life skills, not to stay quiet when I should be fighting back, not to apologise indiscriminately when I’ve done nothing wrong. My parents may love and care for me, but they shelter me so much I don’t learn as much as I do with you. 

“You make me do things I never bothered to learn how to do, make me grow as a person while never putting me in harm’s way. I think you’re probably the first person who would come to my rescue if I’m ever in danger. 

“I was a timid person who never really had a true aim in life, had my head in the clouds and romanticised the world. But with you, I was grounded, and I started trying out a lot of new things and explore what I can do. You give me the courage to step out of my comfort zone, because I know if I ever feel tired and scared again, I have you, and you’re the safe place in which I can fall.

“So, Na Jaemin, I love you, and there’s never going to be another person I would want to live the rest of my life with except you.” 

Jaemin pulls him in for a kiss at the end of his speech and the people around them start clapping and cheering. 

When they pull away, Jisung notices the tear tracks on Jaemin’s face and cheekily whispers into his ear as they embrace each other tightly, “You’re not the only one good at making your husband cry, old man.” 

“Mm, I know, insolent brat,” Jaemin laughs. 

“There’s really no other person as good for me as you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and with that, we've come to the end of Lightweight!! 
> 
> this has been a journey of two entire months, and i'd like to especially thank Crystal for being there every step of the way from conceptualising the idea with me up to threatening to physically harm me if i don't post it all. :') 
> 
> thanks to everyone who waited for the epilogue; my unromantic ass had a difficult time writing wedding vows, but i really wanted to give it a try since it's an arranged _marriage_ au after all (and also make up for my previous fic which was literally a _marriage_ pact au with no marriage lmao what even) so, uh, cut me some slack please if you didn't find this romantic in the most remote sense. like i said, i've never been married before and know nothing about them, you should have been warned by the tags hahahaha
> 
> also, thank you for all the comments and kudos so far, it's extremely heartwarming to see that you all enjoyed it as much as i did writing it!! (sorry not sorry for the tears caused, i'm not going down alone in this!!!) and those who got angry with me over jisung divorcing jaemin, hope you're all appeased by the epilogue now. :') i'll get to replying all of them as soon as i can!
> 
> i'm honestly quite surprised by how many people hit me up on twitter over this fic (and i've made a couple of new friends who love jaesung!) but keep 'em coming, i'd love to talk to all of you about jaemin and jisung, even nct as a whole. someone even reminded me that i haven't let jaemin teach jisung cook a fifth thing so uhhhhhh. i'm gonna have to think about what i can do about that...
> 
> once again, thank you very much for reading this little labour of love till its end, and i would love to hear your thoughts about it! ♡ 
> 
> [twitter](http://twitter.com/jaesungrise) || [curious cat](http://curiouscat.me/allthelines)


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